Return the Favor
by Lucareeo
Summary: Instead of Katsuki Bakugou getting kidnapped, Izuku Midoriya risks his life and ends up being taken by the League of villains. A rescue is ensured, but instead they come face to face with Deku next to All for One, calling him "Sensei". They discover that Deku's memories had been altered from the point when Bakugou tells him to jump off the school roof to be reborn with a quirk.
1. Prologue

The event that took place during the summer training camp had produced results that no one foresaw. Eleven injuries, ranging from minor to severe. Thirteen were injured. One had gone missing. The entire city – maybe even world – had taken the event and mucked up a mass media storm. How could U.A, a school that was supposed to train future heroes, allow something like this to happen? Of course, the media was only interested in what would rile people up. All they heard was "villains" and "kidnapped" and they went to have their own field day. This time was different than the villain attack Class 1-A had over at USJ. Where they had all been able to escape with minimal injuries, this time they had not. In fact, it was very possible a good amount of students could have died. Not only that, but a student had gone missing: No. 14 of Class 1-A, Izuku Midoriya.

While everyone had voiced their concerns, worries and fears, it was the people who had saw him right before the kidnapping that made them think the worst. Izuku Midoriya was in critical condition. His limbs had been torn and bruised from overusing his quirk; the only reason he had gotten as far as he did was because of adrenaline. Now that he was in the clutches of the League of Villain, in such a state no less, would they show mercy on him? Every single one of Class 1-A's students had those thoughts circling in their minds.

Class 1-A, minus Tooru Hagakure, Kyouka Jirou, Momo Yaoyorozu and of course Izuku Midoriya, had all gathered inside of Katsuki Bakugou's hospital room. The boy had bandages around his hands, his brows furrowed deeply at them instead of acknowledging his classmates who had come in to wish him recovery. Mineta was holding a bag of bell peppers (as a melon would've been pretty pricy) for Bakugou.

"We got you some bell peppers!" He spoke up, slicing through the thick silence. No responses. The class could only stare at each other in the awkward air. It wasn't until Eijirou Kirishima walked up to Bakugou's bedside, placing a hand on the railing and a fist forming in the other.

"Look. This time around, let's save him." The sudden exclamation caused Bakugou to spin his head around and look at his classmate, dead in the eyes. Bakugou's mind began reeling. Thoughts of what had happened began playing back, vividly in front of him.

" _KAACHAN!" He couldn't see anything in that moment. He was trapped in some orb or whatever… But he could clearly hear that brat's annoying voice scream out his dumb nickname. Stupid Deku. What could he do anyways –_

 _At a blink of an eye, there was a loud bursting POP noise and Bakugou was back in the forest, stumbling backwards. He could only take in his surroundings for a few seconds, though it seemed like an eternity. People were behind and in front of him. His classmates who for the love of God, he's never really known by name, were catching both his and Tokoyami's fall as they both were released from their ball imprisonment. The villains in front of him were retreating back into the black, misty portal except in one of their arms was… Deku._

 _The villain had his hand at Deku's throat, keeping a strong grip on his shoulder as well. Bakugou had noticed beforehand that the tentacle guy was carrying Deku around for a while, and the reason was evident. The amount of strain and injuries he received on his body was massive; absolutely destructive. Bakugou knew his quirk's limits, but obviously Deku didn't or he chose to ignore them. Again, an idiot._

 _His brain finally caught up to speed as he watched Deku be taken by the villains in his stead. Bakugou's arm went out, flickers of explosions readying itself desperately as the villains retreated._

" _DEKU!" He screamed out. In that instant, only he saw the lights reflecting in Izuku's eyes. Glimmers of tears accompanied a small, shaky smile._

" _Kaachan, I'm so glad…" The boy whispered softly, maybe low enough to make sure he didn't heard but he fucking heard it. And with that, the portal closed. The students was left in the forests by themselves, taking in the UTTER DEFEAT._

Anger, frustration, concern, more anger, ANGER, and also some anger had whirled around in Bakugou's chest. He was never one to express his emotions honestly, and not to strangers even if they were classmates at the very least. He didn't know what he wanted at the moment, everything about the night seemed like a really bad dream.

"Look, Todoroki and I were here yesterday, and we happened to hear a conversation with Yaoyorozu and…" Kirishima rubbed the back of us head while Todoroki took the lead to explain. He looked down at Bakugou, meeting fiery eyes with his cool ones.

"She placed a tracking device on one of those monsters. Yaoyorozu is giving the police one to track them down." He explained softly as the other classmates listened. Tenya Iida, or who Bakugou considered as Fast Four-Eyes, had grabbed ahold of both Kirishima and Todorki's shoulders.

"WE CAN'T! This is a matter we should leave to the professionals! This isn't something we as students should be meddling in!" He nearly screamed out but a chorus of hushing noises helped Iida catch his voice. Kirishima could only grimace and clutch at his chest.

"Damn it man I know that! But I still couldn't do anything! You didn't either!" The jab caught Iida stricken, both students clenched their fists. "We heard Bakugou was being targeted but we couldn't do anything! I _didn't_ do anything about it! And everyone got hurt and Midoriya got-" He stopped himself, swallowing hard.

"If I don't do something about it here, then I won't be able to call myself a hero!" Everyone around had tried to hush the students until he turned back to Bakugou.

"LISTEN! Everyone knows you and Midoriya's got some weird beef or whatever, but you've known him the longest right? He risked his life to save yours, so it's only right that we go and save him!" The class went quiet, Bakugou went back to stare at his hands, pondering, aggressively thinking. He too, stayed quiet, since he had no idea what to say or what his honest self was telling him. His mind grew dizzy again, the reality of the situation was more than he could ever take in. The class only waited for Bakugou's response but he had already tuned everyone out. Visions of the past played once again.

" _Kaachan are you hurt? Can you get up?"_ Shut up Deku.

" _Because… I couldn't just stand around and watch you die!"_ SHUT UP. DEKU.

" _Kaachan, I'm so glad…"_

A roar of anguish filled the room as Bakugou clenched his bandaged fists and bang them down on the bed repeatedly. The entire class jumped in shock, some even escaped out of the room. He continued to beat his hands down again and again, each time with more vigor fueled by hatred.

"Every _fucking_ time he goes and pulls some shit like this! I didn't ask for fucking help and he looks at me like I'm some weakling that needs saving! I would've been fine if they took me! So if he's all powerful and great, then he should be able to get himself out of that shit! I ain't gonna help that son of a bitch he can DIE for all I care!" He screamed out. Bakugou's face was towards the bed, but every single one of the classmates still inside the room had felt the vicious, frontal attack from where they were. The shocked silence was broken by footsteps approaching Bakugou's bed and a hard slap.

Uraraka's eyes brimmed with tears but her eyebrows furrowed in anger and disgust.

"Whether you wanted it or not! Deku risked everything to save you! That's something a real hero would do, and if you're going to look down on that, then you should quit now! You're not hero material!" Tears rolled down her cheeks as she turned and stormed out of the room, followed by a few of the other classmates until only Kirishima stayed there next to Bakugou's side. He didn't move from when Uraraka slapped him, the time to be furious had passed. Deep down, Bakugou knew he didn't mean what he said, at least not the last part. He was always one to talk about killing and death but never would he choose to take someone's life. Bakugou was being defensive, there were too many people there and he wasn't able to share how he really felt. If Deku did die then…

"Bakugou." Kirishima whispered softly. He turned his head to look up at him. "I know that… You don't mean that. Whether you come or not, me and Todoroki are leaving tonight." His words became softer, Kirishima's eyes looking to the ground as well.

"Maybe I'm wrong, maybe you don't care about him. But he sure as hell cared about you and he's our classmate and friend! I'm still inviting you because, well, I think you do want to rescue him too."

Bakugou turned his face away from the red head. "Get out." Kirishima blinked in surprise before sighing, rubbing the back of his neck. He turned on his heels to the door and with one look at Bakugou, he left.

It was true though, he _did_ want to rescue Deku. He didn't want Kirishima to see him blink away frustrated tears before letting them out with a cry.

-  
Bakugou had taken the party by surprise when he met with the students outside of the hospital. Kirishima's face had lit up, giving him a bright grin as they discussed what their plan of action was. The rescue team was Kirishima, Todoroki, Bakugou, Yaoyorozu and even Iida. While the class president was there to persuade them to stop what they were doing, he was convinced by the idea of a non-combat rescue mission and a quick chat with Todoroki. No one really heard what they were talking about, out of privacy, but Bakugou was able to hear Todoroki softly say _"You know if you were the one kidnapped, he'd try to rescue you."_ Everyone in class knew that Deku's friends were mainly Iida and Uraraka, and even though Bakugou didn't know this, it seemed like the bonds Deku had made were as strong as steel. Bakugou wondered - if it were anyone else, would Iida have agreed to come along despite the potential risks? He answered it with a _no_.

With Yaoyorozu's tracking device, they pinpointed the chip to be located in the Kamino Ward. The bullet train ride to the region was awkward, filled with a kind of silence that was only broken up by discussion between Iida and Todoroki. They sat across from each other and while Todoroki and Kirishima were eating at their store-bought meals, Iida expressed his position as watchmen to all of them.

"I want all of you to remember what we're doing is extremely dangerous and that we are to avoid combat at ALL cost!" He had directed most of the speeches to Bakugou who only grunted and sneered in response.

"Listen up four-eyes, I don't give a shit about what you say but I'm not going to run in without a plan." Bakugou crossed his arms and glared him down, which only gave Iida more fuel to spout his speeches. Everyone knew him to be the person with the least likeliness to cooperate, but he wasn't an idiot. Bakugou understood it was virtually impossible to achieve their mission without relying on each other, much to his dismay.

They all had ended up with a disguise. _Dumb_ disguises is what Bakugou thought as he tugged on his collar and scratched at the beanie they had him put on. He was ready to tear apart the sunglasses and fake goatee until Kirishima had reassured he looked like a "super cool dude!" Bakugou left it alone but nearly socked Kirishima in the face when he tried to get him to do some sort of accent. (Lucky for him, Kirishima always knew when to activate his quirk to protect himself from Bakugou's fists).

All four of them walked towards the tracking point's location, with Iida constantly reminder of to not engage in any form of combat. In order to keep suspicion from the regular pedestrians, they all had crammed themselves into the side of the building the tracking device had pointed to. Kirishima had brought out a (pretty expensive) night vision camera and hoisted himself on top of Todoroki's shoulders. Bakugou followed, stepping onto Iida's shoulders despite his unwillingness. When they saw that only noumus were inside of the facility, everyone's hearts sank. While no one knew what the noumus were, from the many they've fought and seen, everyone understood that they weren't normal. Was it possible that Deku was inside of this facility as well? _With_ the noumus?

Everything that occurred next happened in a blink of an eye. Mt. Lady had come with other pro heroes and police enforcement to smash the building down and rescue and retain those that were inside the building. The destruction left the five of them stunned, scrambling up on the ledge to see what was happening.

"Mt. Lady, Gang the Orca, even No. 4 Hero Best Jeanist is there!" Kirishima shouted. As the pro heroes rounded up all the noumus and rescue those who were taken, Iida announced that they should all leave it to them and head back now. He seemed far too happy to leave, but Bakugou stayed put. There was something off. Something in the air was telling Bakugou that it wasn't going to be this easy. Something inside Bakugou's stomach churned and before he knew it-

 _ **WHAM.**_

"If possible, I'd like to ask for you all to stop interfering."

The aura around them dropped. It was almost as if they had come face to face with the reaper themselves. All five of them had their backs to the wall. The entire block had been destroyed in one second. The sound of slow clapping lingered as the man in the dark praised Best Jeanist.

"As expected of the No. 4 Hero! I was trying to blast everyone away but in an instant you controlled everyone's clothes and pulled them out of the way! Your judgement, your technique, you've got nerve of steel. Isn't that so, Izuku?"

Bakugou froze. Every single of them had heard what the man had said, yet no one's body would move. Everyone single one of them was paralyzed by fear, Bakugou included. Yaoyorozu had vomited to the side.

"That's definitely Best Jeanist for you, not only does he have a versatile quirk that can affect anyone who's wearing clothes, he's also known for his swift judgement!" The voice was Izuku Midoriya's. Every single one of them recognized it. It was Bakugou who finally turned his head to see Deku standing there, next to the man in the dark suit.

He looked… Fine. His injuries were gone, he was smiling like he was back at school with his friends but something was off. Deku was in his hero outfit, but wasn't at the same time. It was a darker, black ersion of what he wore with modifications. While his face still seemed soft, there was something about his eyes that made him look… tired.

Black liquid began forming and spilling out villains, those specifically from the League. The guy with the hands, Bakugou remembered it was something like Shigaraki, landed in front of the man who seemed to be Death himself.

"Tomura. I know your goal was to take the Bakugou boy, but I'd like you to know you did not fail with your replacement." The man placed a hand onto Deku's shoulder. Bakugou was ready to stand up and run over when Iida placed a hand on him, shaking his head as he covered his own mouth. He gritted his teeth, hands balling into fists as he stood there, watching like some sort of bystander.

"You've actually found us the key to success. With Izuku, we can finally rip apart One for All." Shigaraki Tomura only slouched himself, scratching at his neck.

"Sensei…I didn't know you had such tremendous power." Before he could say anything else, All Might had appeared and tried to land a hit on the man. The fight ensured. Bakugou couldn't keep an eye on everything that was going on, from the man, to All Might, to Tomura, to Deku.

"I want you to remember, Tomura. You can still grow so much more. My gift to you is this boy, he will be the key to your success." With his fingers, it zipped over to the unconscious warp gate villain, forcing his quirk to activate. "Izuku, go with Tomura."

"But, Sensei-" Deku looked up at him before All Might came back.

"OH, no you don't! I'll be rescuing Midoriya!" The man fended off All Might, throwing him onto his back. The warp gate grew larger as the suited-man used whatever his quirk was to pull the villains into the black warp gate. Before any of them could get in, Bakugou finally sprung up and over the wall.

"DEKU!" He screamed out, using his explosions to propel himself towards the gate. All Might turned towards Bakugou, shocked before he yelled out.

"Bakugou! GET BACK NOW!" Before he knew it, Deku's body jolted forward towards Bakugou despite the magnetism, and punched him square in the face. He hit the wall, cracking the cement as the other students jumped over the wall to assist him.

The man turned towards them. "Oh? Izuku, is this the boy you've been telling me about?" Deku nodded in response, a grin appearing on his face.

"Yeah, this is Kaachan." He replied. The man only chuckled, turning back to All Might.

"Very well. Tomura, I'll send Izuku to you soon. I'm sure right now he has his own battle to face." With that, Tomura and the other villains were pulled into the black warp gate, leaving Izuku Midoriya standing there, grinning towards Katsuki Bakugou.

All Might's voice rang through the battle ground. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!" The No. 1 Hero ran towards the man, throwing a punch which was blocked.

"Not much, really. I only tweaked with some memories. Don't worry though, he still idolizes you. I couldn't get rid of that." The man chuckled and black lines from his fingertip charged at All Might. "Izuku, I'll let you have your fight."

"Thank you Sensei!" Deku's face lit up, almost like a child who was given permission to eat another cookie. It pissed off Bakugou.

"What the FUCK Deku?! What's wrong with you? Brainwashed huh?! Just do the thing you did back at the sports festival and snap out of it!" Bakugou screamed out, his personal rage fueling him to act without thinking. Iida and Kirishima had helped him back up, all of them keeping their eyes on Deku.

Todoroki called out after him. "Midoriya, we're here to rescue you! Whatever's going on, you can pull through!" Deku only blinked in confusion as the man laughed while fighting All Might. The destruction from the two's fight was overwhelming, but there was nothing the U.A students could do unless they wanted to leave behind Deku.

"Huh, I don't know who you are, but it seems like you know me? I didn't know Kaachan had friends!" Deku furrowed his brow, fists clenching. "Wow, that's really amazing huh Kaachan? It's been only a year since we've seen each other and you're here with friends? While I'm alone." Bakugou's eyes widen. What the fuck was going on? Yaoyorozu placed a hand on his shoulder.

"He doesn't know us, only you Bakugou. I think he definitely is brainwashed in some way, but there could be more to this…" She explained, biting her lip as she watched her classmate slowly turn his smile into a frown. "He still has his personality, talk to him, Midoriya's one to talk."

Bakugou didn't want to fucking _talk_ , he wanted to really punch Deku in the face right now. Yaoyorozu was right though, there seemed to have been some kind of brainwash in play. If it was similar to Shinsou's brainwashing then that means there must be some sort of limit or trigger to release the quirk. The others seem to have realized that too, so the best form of action right now was to keep Midoriya talking, maybe even taunt him closer. It would be risky and any assurance of the mission being non-combat was out the window.

"You said a year huh? I don't even remember the last time we saw each other! You're just that small to me!" Bakugou yelled out, grinning as he got his hands ready. That seemed to bring Deku's face back to a soft, nervous look. Iida, on the other hand, was not as pleased.

"Do you remember back in middle school? We both were applying to U.A and you told me that I couldn't do anything since I was quirkless?" Deku looked down and clenched his fists. "And then, do you remember what you told me? You said, 'Hey! I know a way for you to get a quick! Maybe if you jump off the school roof you can die and be reborn with a quirk!'" Bakugou's face dropped. His classmates turned to look at him, terrified.

"Did you… Did you say that to him?" Todoroki whispered softly. The silence and then the sound of a swallow gave them the answer.

"Well… I wasn't going to at first but as I was walking home I got taken by a villain, a sludge monster. All Might came to save me actually and I asked him, you know, me and you look up to him so much and he was there in front of me! So I had to ask, if it was possible I could still be a hero even without a quirk." All Might had heard every word and tried to call out to him but was silenced by Sensei and the destruction going around.

"He…He told me I couldn't. And deep down I knew that too, but for some reason I felt that All Might would've told me that… maybe I could've been. So I went back to school, went up to the roof and did exactly what you told me to do." Deku looked up to stare at Bakugou, dead on.

"I didn't die, but I was reborn. Sensei found me and he told me that I could be a hero! Then he gave me a quirk! So now I can be a hero, and to prove it, I'm going to defeat you, Kaachan!" Deku clenched his fists and charged towards the students. Kaachan, stunned, quickly got into a stance to take him on. For the first time though, he wasn't able to smile.

Before either of them could do anything, Todoroki placed up a giant wall of ice to keep Deku from coming. "If he doesn't know us, he won't know our quirk, we have to leave, NOW." He explained sternly to his classmates, ushering them up.

"What? NO! I can beat him! I'll knock him out and then we'll take him back!" Bakugou screamed as the ice shattered, a fist coming through it. Todoroki quickly used his flames to melt the shards that were flung by the impact. None of them were in their hero outfits, it was too dangerous to fight, especially with All Might and the man having their destructive battle so close.

"We need to go, now!" Todoroki yelled out, pulling them all back. Deku stared at all of them, causing all of them to freeze as their hearts dropped. In that instant, Izuku Midoriya looked like he was ready to kill.

"I'm not letting you go that easy Kaachan!" Another fist came down but was blocked by Kirishima's arm. There was a cracking noise as Kirishima yelled out in pain.

"FUCK! He's, too strong!" The hardening wore off and was replaced with a bruised, bloodied arm. Bakugou looked at it, gritting his teeth. There was no other option. They had to get out of there. It'll be okay, they'll get out, regroup, they'll rescue Deku later. He was alive and that's what was important. Even if the fucking idiot got himself brainwashed. But now - ! They had to leave in order to give All Might a chance to win!

"EVERYONE LOOK AWAY!" Bakugou held his hands close, pointing out towards Deku. Everyone turned as he unleashed a concentrated explosion at Deku, who blocked it with his arms. The boy flew back onto the ground as Bakugou grabbed ahold of Iida's shirt. "FUCKING GO!" He cried out, Iida nodding in response. They all grabbed onto Iida as he used his quirk to swiftly get out of the area of action.

"Oh no you DON'T!" Deku gotten up and jumped towards them, a fist ready to land when all of a sudden All Might appeared to block the punch.

"Get out of here! I'll take care of the rest!" All Might grabbed onto Deku's hand and punched him in the face, sending him flying backwards once again. "I'm sorry Midoriya, my boy!" He turned towards the children who have raced off, away from the action and into the streets. No one knew how long it took them to get away so quickly, but everyone's minds began reeling as they were stuck in a crowd who were being escorted by police officers and other traffic control mediators. No one said a word to one another as they were being funneled into the main streets as helicopters flew in every direction towards the fight.

Everyone directed themselves towards the screens up on high buildings as they went from whatever commercial they were playing to the fight at hand. From high above, they were able to see both All Might and Deku. His voice was low, but audible when projected on the loud speakers.

"You were my hero! I've always wanted to be like you All Might, so why… Why didn't you tell me I could be a hero?!" He screamed out, getting his fists ready. The man in dark suit came over, placing a hand onto Deku's shoulder. All Might grimaced deeply, his fists shaking.

"No Midoriya, that's not what happened!" He yelled out. How could All for One erase all of the memories from that point? How was he able to implant new ones? Who had that ability and what were the ways to dispel the effects? All Might continue to reach out to Deku. "You can be a hero! You _are_ a hero! Izuku Midoirya! I know you!"

His eyes widen, tears glistening. "A-All Might… You're only saying that now cause I'm in front of you, with a quirk, with a power. Why didn't you tell me that before?!" Deku screamed out. He ran toward him but was quickly stopped by All for One.

"That's enough for you Izuku, go back to Tomura." He placed a warp gate behind them as Izuku reluctantly got in.

"Sensei what about you?" His voice shook before All for One looked back to All Might. "Whatever happens to me, Tomura will succeed me. Help him." Deku nodded his head and went into the gate.

"NO!" All Might raced towards the warp gate but was stopped when All for One aimed a destructive blow towards a civilian. At the last second, All Might turned to protect the woman, and then lost his form.

Bakugou watched the events unfold. He listened to words like "successor" and "All for One" and didn't understand anything that was going on. Even when All Might's true form was revealed, he cried out for him to win. As other heroes came to help and lighten the load, Bakugou heard the man say something but the speakers cut off. Only All Might heard this in the moment.

" _Izuku Midoriya, the boy you passed it to huh? To be honest, I was going to kill him and make him feel every bit ounce of regret. But the opportunity presented itself. Isn't it sweeter? To see the boy who was going to be your successor, fall into my hands. I'll be honest, when I saw him, I swear he was my younger brother for a second." He laughed. "It won't matter what the results are now! You lose either way! To be a teacher is to help your pupil stand up by himself. It seems you haven't been doing that good of a job. It might've been a result from your previous teacher."_

The last moment of the fight gave an incredulous explosion. It ended with a United States of Smash. It ended with one fist raised into the air. It ended with cheers from every part of the nation. It was victory; victory for everyone else except the chosen few. If Izuku Midoriya had been watching next to him, Bakugou was certain he'd be crying endless amount of tears. He wasn't there; however, which meant what the five of them ultimately had sought to do ended in a complete failure.

The next morning the world was in a state of chaos. Bakugou and the others had all gone their separate ways, quiet, deep in thought, and in mourning. Everyone had been able to go back home to their families, except for Deku.

The road to his house was familiar to Bakugou, walking past it every time he went to elementary school in the past and on the occasions where he had come over to grab Deku for their daily adventures as children. As he walked past the Midoriya's household, he couldn't help but see the police vehicles lined up outside. He knew what that meant. He could also hear Deku's mom crying loudly, begging for help from the police who were trying to reassure her the best to their abilities.

Bakugou grabbed at his shirt, gripping it tightly as he gritted his teeth. He tried to keep walking but stopped a few feet away from the house. He doubled over, eyes brimming but refusing to let them stream. He held his breath behind pulled back teeth, Bakugou wasn't going to scream. He didn't need to as the sound of Inko Midoriya's wails of sorrow echoed through the neighborhood.

He wasn't strong enough to save Deku. They had to run away like pathetic losers! Bakugou didn't know what was a better scenario. The fact that Deku could be dead versus Deku being brainwashed into a villain. If it was him, he'd rather be dead than turn villain. Of course he'd fight his ways out first, but would rather die trying than anything else. To be forced into being a villain, now that was something that set him off. It was disgusting. Bakugou would've never admit it out loud, but Deku's passion for becoming the best hero rivaled his own.


	2. Transformation

It wasn't the first time Izuku Midoriya sat next to Shigaraki Tomura. So close, and so threatning. This time, the boy some people called Deku was sitting in a wooden chair, his hands and legs restraining back as Tomura pulled up a bar chair and sat in front of him. This time was different than the first for obvious reasons, but the main struggle ran through Deku's mind: how do I get out of this situation? There were no civilians that Tomura could threaten Deku with, but there were about five other villains that loomed over him, watching every single one of his movements. It wasn't like he could move much anyways. Deku was starting to feel all of the pain that had saved itself for a time he wasn't running around fueled on a great heaping pile of adrenaline. He was in no condition to fight.

"Well, this isn't what I wanted. Not. At. All." Tomura's head dipped low, a hand moving back to scratch his neck idly. "But, now that you're here, I'm sure we can figure something out." Deku kept his head low, thinking of a strategy as he waited. There wasn't much for him to do at that moment since there were so many villains surrounding him and he didn't know all of their quirks. He knew for certain that Tomura in front of him could disintegrate once he got all his fingers wrapped around him. Okay, avoid his hands. But the bartender over to the side with the mist floating around him was a tricky one. Warp gates for teleportation means that he'll be able to bring in reinforcements. It was too risky to move even with just him around. As for every other villain inside that room, there was no room for guesses. What Deku didn't know, he didn't know. The possibility of escape was slim, the best course of action would be… Keeping himself alive long enough till he's rescued.

"You know, I really want to kill you." Tomura's voice felt like a knife cutting through him. Deku shivered, but kept his face hard, unwilling to cooperate. "But I'm thinking that you're going to be great bait now, for All Might." He rubbed his neck, leaning over his chair with a hand reached out. Deku winced, moving his head farther back as the fingers approached him.

"I was thinking, right? That we use Bakugou and get him to join us. His strength, his entire character screams a villain!" Tomura explained, laughing.

"You're wrong." Deku spat out, biting his lip right after. "Kacchan would never be persuaded to be a villain. He aims for the top, to be the No. 1 pro hero." _Just like All Might._ He didn't mention the name, knowing very well from the last time he and Tomura met that the villain absolutely detested him. Bringing him up might be a bad choice of words.

"Well, it doesn't matter what _he_ wanted. I would've given him the option to join but if he still refused, we would've made him anyways. You, though, I was thinking, and hear me out." He placed two fingers on Deku's forehead.

"Wouldn't it be better for the story, if the person that turned villain was the hero?" Deku swallowed. _What is he saying?!_

"Like, how much more fun would that be? Sure we take the kid that already seems like a villain, turn him into a villain, but you. Mr. No. 1's Fan Boy! Imagine if _you_ were the one to turn into a villain." Tomura explained, his teeth showing as a wide grin spread across his face, the same one that left Deku shivers down his spine back at the shopping outlet. "You know how much _more_ people would despair? How much _All Might_ would despair?" When he said his name, Tomura's voice was lowered and laced with disgust.

"No, I'm- I'm never going to be a villain! No matter what you do!" Deku screamed out, his eyes already brimming with tears. He came so far to become a hero, there was no way they can persuade him, no matter what kind of quirk one of them had! If it was a brainwashing quirk again, he'll figure something out! There was a limit too, he just had to exploit it to the best he can. He could do this, his spirit was strong, it's always been strong, Deku just had to –

" _Tomura._ " The voice came from a screen. Everyone turned to look at the source of the fuzzy voice. Shigaraki Tomura got out of his seat and headed over to the screen.

"Sensei, I need your help. I think it's time to get little Midoriya on our side." Tomura held his hands out, similar to a child pleading for a toy.

" _A wise decision Tomura. I'll prepare. In the meantime, break his spirit."_ The voice on the screen went dead, and Deku's eyes shot up as Tomura straightened his back. He turned and headed over to Deku, eyes widen with madness as he grabbed a hold of Deku's shoulders, one pinky up.

"You should be lucky, getting a private lesson from Sensei himself. At least before then, I can play around with you for a bit." The pinky went down. All fingers were on Deku's shoulder and his clothes had started tearing away, then his skin.

"STOP!" Deku screamed out, feeling his shoulder be torn apart slowly, crumbling away as the muscles below it blistered and screeched. He had seen Aizawa-sensei's elbow been touched and disintegrated, but the feeling was so much worse than it looked. He gritted his teeth, trying not to scream and give Tomura the satisfaction, but once he placed his other hand on the other shoulder, Deku cried out, tears rolling down his face as both of his shoulders began disintegrating slowly. It was only his shoulders but it felt like his entire body was being pulled apart, piece by piece. It didn't feel like someone was pulling away a whole piece, but instead someone was grabbing at Deku's skin, pulling it out, and cutting small pieces at a time while keeping their grip. The pain was nearly unbearable. If Deku didn't have a high tolerance for pain, he might've passed out, even considering the wounds and bruises he sustained while fighting Muscular earlier. Deku moved to bit down on his lip, to try and focus on that pain as blood seeped down both his shoulders and now his bottom lip. In his head he screamed, louder and louder. _I'm sorry mom! I'm sorry All Might! I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'm sorry everyone please!_ Tears continued to roll down his cheek, his shoulders looking nothing like red, bloody splotches before Tomura let go.

"I can't wait to meet the changed you. Make sure you thank Sensei for his gift. Consider it, the best kind of power-up." Tomura's grin appeared once more as black, gooey liquid came pouring out of Deku's mouth and enveloped him, transporting him away.

Tomura looked down at the empty chair, grinning before he turned towards the door. A knock.

" _PIZZA DELIVERY!"_ He only grinned wider.

-  
Everything was black. The darkness was heavy and it didn't feel like the usual darkness of the night. He had ended up on the floor somewhere, hard and cold. Concrete probably. Deku's body screamed out in agony, as the waves of nerves splitting from his shoulders transported its way down to his entire nervous system. He nearly choked out a sob before hearing a cold, elderly voice.

" _Oh dear, that Tomura did quite a job on you didn't he? Don't mind him, he seemed to be very excited by you being here."_ Out of the darkness stepped an older man, with a deformed face and a dark suit dressed him well. Deku felt the air turn extremely cold, the atmosphere become dangerously ill. This man screamed of pure evil.

Deku tried to move himself away, but screamed out in pain as his body twisted onto itself, both from his shoulder wounds and previous over-exertion.

"Don't worry now, let me help you." The man leaned down and place his hand on Deku's face. His eyes widen before he felt his entire body tense up. An almost cooling, calming wave spread across his entire body, fixing his wounds both externally and internally. It wasn't like Recovery Girl's power where it sped up a person's healing process. This quirk was a healing quirk all together that had no repercussions. It felt too good, almost enough for Deku to sigh and smile in relief but considering he was being healed by the villain, the feeling was bittersweet.

His body rebuilt itself, patching up every last wound that he accumulated over the course of the few days. Deku couldn't help but feel, _refreshed._

"Your face." The man spoke up, reminding Deku where he was and that the man's hand was still on his face. "That's strange. This is might sound odd, but your face reminds me of my younger brother." Deku's eyes widen at the implication. He slowly turned towards him, swallowing hard as his voice refused to be let out. He did his best to stutter out a:

"A-Are you… _All for One_?" The man only grinned. Deku froze. This was the man that All Might was destined to fight and defeat. No, it was the man that _Deku_ had to defeat. Everything _One for All_ accumulated to was in order to stop this evil that was now standing in front of him.

"So you _are_ my brother. I suppose not technically, but," The man's hand left Deku's have and went down to his arm, helping him up and steading the boy. If Deku didn't know anything was that going on, it was almost as if a kind gentleman had given him assistance off the floor. "You are so much like him. Tell me Izuku, before receiving One for All, what was your quirk?" Deku refused to say anything. Whether it was from defiance or pure terror, he couldn't open his mouth.

A hand went up to his forehead, a thumb onto his forehead gave All for One the answer. "Quirkless! My you really are my brother aren't you? Izuku, you have no idea how happy to makes me to know that you will be alongside Tomura now. When I was younger, I longed for my brother to be by my side. Finally, I can live through Tomura and you." Before Deku could react, the man wrapped his arms around him in an embrace.

Deku didn't know what was happening. He was terrified, frozen with absolute horror as this name, the one that is deemed the purest of evils, was hugging him like they were old friends.

"Now then, let's get to work." Two hands grabbed a hold of Deku's head as his entire mind blacked out.

-  
 _Izuku Midoriya sniffed. The young boy, only about the age of 5, sat on the ground with bruises and cuts from scraping the ground. Looking up he saw Katsuki Bakugou, his hands cupped as small explosions lit up. A few other of students from their preschool had gathered around to watch him use his quirk._

" _See Deku! My quirk is so much cooler! I can beat you now but when you get your quirk, I'll still beat you!" He laughed before walking away._

 _Right. When Izuku gets his quirk, he'll be able to become a great hero! He'll rival Bakugou! He'll be just like All Might! Except, he never got his quirk._

 _Time flashed forward. The constant teasing from Bakugou became more and more degrading, but Izuku had held onto his All Might action figure and shouted back once. "Just you wait Kacchan! I can still be a hero! Even without a quirk!" The phrase was met with an explosion to the face and let Izuku on the ground._

" _Shut up Deku! You're useless! Quirkless piece of shit!" He laughed. Izuku hated the name Deku._

 _More time flashed. He was going to apply for UA, despite everyone's disbelief. Even if he was quirkless, they had changed the rules to state that even people without a quirk were able to apply. Even if no one had been accepted on those merits, there was still a chance!_

" _Hey I got an idea, if you really want a quirk why don't you swan dive off the roof and die? Then you can reborn with one!" Izuku winced, staring at Kacchan with tears brimming in his eyes, as usual. The fierce boy only threatened him with more explosions. It wasn't like Izuku hadn't thought about something like that before. Every night he considered ways to obtain a quirk. Maybe if he threw himself into a vast of toxic waste? No, it was okay! Because he could become a hero without one, right?_

 _Life at home was quiet. Both his parents went across borders to work but Izuku knew it was became they wanted nothing to do with him. He never knew his father much anyways, but Izuku could tell that his mother felt guilty about not being able to pass down her quirk to him. He didn't care if he was quirkless, he just wished his mother showed him more support._

 _He had finally met his idol. On a rare chance that Izuku was taken by a villain and out of all of the heroes that could've rescued him, it was the one and only All Might! Izuku had to take the chance presented to him, he had to ask him, the person he looked up to the most, and the person who will tell him what he wanted to hear!_

" _Even if I don't have a quirk, can I still be a hero?" The now, frail-looking All Might only shook his head. Rejection. Flat out refusal. His No. 1 Hero, All Might had told him no, he could never be a hero. Deep down, Izuku should've known this, he knew deep down that it was impossible for him so why did he hold onto hope for so long? Why did All Might tell him no? Why? Why couldn't he be a hero?!_

 _Izuku had walked straight to school after that. He climbed up onto the school roof and looked down at the city he longed to protect. Tears rolled down his eyes as he looked at the hero notebook he'd been creating for himself, when he becomes a hero. There was no use for it. He threw it off the roof flinging it over the fence, crying out loudly as he watched his dream disappear into the ground below. Izuku took a moment to reconsider what he was doing. What was he doing?_

 _There wasn't anything left for him. He was useless. Quirkless. There wasn't anything Izuku wanted to be but a hero, and he couldn't. It was reality now. He took the time to think of those around him. He didn't have any friends, and Kacchan was the one that suggested the plan really, so he wouldn't care if he left the Earth. His parents had left him long ago and now his one shining hope had gave him the slap in the face reality has been trying to scream at him for the longest time. He wondered if there were heroes who specialized in suicide prevention. Izuku never recalled hearing about a hero like that, which made him laugh. He was too useless to even be saved by something like this!_

 _There was no one left in the world for him, no one to protect. He truly believed that maybe if he did jump, he could be reborn._

 _With one hand on the fence, he began climbing up on it. No one stopped him, either because they didn't see him or no one truly cared anyways. That's what Izuku thought. Sitting on top of the wired fence, he tried to think of reasons to get himself down, to stop what he was doing._

" _I like eating katsudon, if I die I can't eat that…" He told himself but frowned. He could eat some if he was reborn anew, maybe he'd like something else._

" _I really like my shoes." He could jump with his shoes on, maybe he'd be reborn with them. Everything Izuku thought was minimal, absolutely useless just like him. Even he wasn't able to think of ways to prevent himself from jumping. He couldn't even save himself!_

 _With one last look to the sky, he tried to imagine All Might, in his hero form, coming towards him and stopping him. Grabbing him and holding him, telling him that he's wanted and he's still someone with passion. 'You can still be a hero!'_

 _He wished for that to happen, but once he was plummeting to the ground, he realized that no one was going to rescue him. Maybe he just wasn't worth being saved. At the last second, Izuku closed his eyes, tranquility washing over him._

 _When he opened his eyes, he was on a bed. A man with a scarred face and a black suit sat beside him. Next to him was a young man, older than Izuku, with grey hair and chapped lips. Izuku's hand flew behind him, his instincts kicking in. He tried to find his backpack to offer the young man some Vaseline that he always kept in the front pocket. (It was great for cuts and wounds that he got often as a child.)_

" _You're awake. Young man, you gave us quite a scare." The man spoke, leaning over to "look" at him._

 _Where am I? That's what Izuku had wanted to say but instead, the first thing that comes out of his mouth is, "I'm sorry."_

 _The younger man raised an eyebrow. "You take a jump off a roof and you're apologizing? Geez, how fucking twisted are you?"_

 _The older man didn't say anything to that, he kept his face turned to Izuku. "Tell me, dear boy, why did you do it?"_

 _Izuku's heart ached as he spilled all of his feelings out to two strangers. Everything from his goal to be a hero, to the constant bullying for being quirkless, to how he came home to no one, to finally meeting All Might and then being told he couldn't be a hero. His life was shattered at that instant, life was no longer meaningless._

" _All Might huh? What a joke!" The younger man hissed out, placing his fists on the bed, keeping his fingers away. "Listen kid, just became that excuse of a hero told you that you couldn't be one, doesn't mean you listen!" His voice grew with animosity, something Izuku hadn't heard before when talking about the No. 1 Pro Hero._

" _Izuku Midoriya, it seems that we stopped you from death, but what will you do now?" The older man asked. Izuku sat up in the bed, gripping the blanket and biting his lip. Nothing changed really, his resolve to die was still there. He was silent._

" _Izuku." The man spoke again, using his first name fondly. It almost felt like a father who was giving his son advice. "What if I told you that you can be a hero?"_

 _Izuku turned to face the man. "But how?" He asked, tears brimming again. "I don't have a quirk-"_

" _What if I told you I could give you one?"_

 _The room went silent. Izuku stared at him, then to the younger man to see if he was bluffing in some sort, if this was all a practical joke. So many questions ran through the young boy's mind. Too many questions._

" _Why me?" Was all Izuku managed to say, clutching at his chest._

" _Because, from just knowing you now, I know that your passion is true. You have the heart of a hero, and I can't sit idly by and watch you destroy your life. So if you'll agree, join me. Us. I'll make sure that you become a hero that's even better than All Might. One that will look to a child and tell them 'you can be a hero.'" A hand extended._

 _With a sniff and a sob, Izuku accepted._

 _-  
_ "Izuku." All for One spoke up, letting go of Deku's head. The black goo wrapped itself around the young boy, leaving only his face there as a new hero suit was placed on him. It was the one that Izuku had imagined for himself, but with alterations Sensei provided. His new implanted memories will adjust soon, and for good measurement, Sensei had given him a hidden quirk that would pair nicely with his new found, altered mind.

"Sensei?" Deku looked up, then from left and right. "Sensei! Where are we? What's going on?"

"We're at the Noumu base. It appears that we have been found by the heroes. You were stunned for a while, do you remember anything?" He asked, not really interested in an actual response before turning towards the front of the building. They would come soon.

"I remember being with Tomu-chan, did Kurogiri transported me here?" He asked, concern growing as he clenched his fists and got ready for whoever was coming.

The building had been brought down by Mt. Lady. Deku had put himself in front of his sensei to block whatever debris would be flying over there.

"Let me handle this Izuku." All for One spoke before walking out of the dark side of the building they were. Even with Beast Jeanist's intuition, Deku knew that it was no use for his Sensei. The musculoskeletal coiling matched with air propulsion had sent the Pro Heroes flying backwards, destroying the neighborhood they were in. Noticing that Best Jeanist had taken his comrades out of the blast range, Sensei laughed and began clapping.

"As expected of the No. 4 Hero! I was trying to blast everyone away but in an instant you controlled everyone's clothes and pulled them out of the way! Your judgement, your technique, you've got nerve of steel. Isn't that so, Izuku?" The young boy beamed, following his Sensei out into the light.

"That's definitely Best Jeanist for you, not only does he have a versatile quirk that can affect anyone who's wearing clothes, he's also known for his swift judgement!" That could never be taken from his, his knowledge and admiration for heroes. It was one thing Sensei felt needed to stay.

From then on, the battle ensured. Tomura had been brought over with the other villains, much to his relief. He was ready to leave though, reluctant knowing he had to assist Tomura in any way he could until All Might came crashing in, saying his name. It made his stomach churn. He didn't need saving, and never from him. That time had passed.

"DEKU!" Now _that_ was a name he hadn't heard in a very long time. Everyone in the base referred to him as Izuku, sometimes Izkun, but that name laced with a specific voice, "Deku" couldn't help but smile! Finally, it was his time to shine. To meet his rival.

He jolted towards him and punched him square in the face.

Everything after that was fueled by excitement and adrenaline. Kacchan was here, he had friends too! It made Deku's stomach churn with both joy and envy. He wasn't ready to confront his childhood 'friend' but it didn't stop from him making a monologue of his past. Deku was a chatterbox anyhow, so being able to finally give the world his backstory had excited him. It might've been the rush of excitement that stunted Deku's rational strategy. He had forgotten the friends that were with Kacchan, so when an ice barricade was built he grew annoyed.

Kacchan and the others had made their way, and Deku had wearily announced his resentment to his previously favorite hero. He eventually left, watching as his Sensei have his last fight with One for All. He landed next to Tomura in an unknown location with the rest of the villains, standing there, staring at him. Deku's first instincts were to go to Tomura.

"Tomu-chan are you alright?" He took ahold of his shoulder. Shigraki Tomura would've slapped him away, but he remembered what his sensei told him. The boy would be key to their success. He had a suspicion that the boy was now brainwashed, having different memories implanted that showed Tomura as someone to be respected and cared for. Not only a few moments before was Tomura grabbing Deku's shoulder and making him cry in agony, destroying his skin. Now he was holding his shoulder, asking if he was alright. He grinned.

"I'm fine Izuku. We have to support Sensei now." They all looked around, turning to see a small TV against the wall.

Unknown to either of them, the memories that Sensei had implanted into Izuku Midoirya had made Shigraki Tomura seem like an older brother. It was obvious once someone thought about it. If Tomura were to be the successor of All for One and Izuku was the successor of One for All, then he wanted to parallel his own relationship with his brother.

All the memories pointed towards Tomura as his friend. Someone who had given him hope when no one else was there. Whether Tomura liked that or not, he would soon find out that he himself needed someone like Izuku in his life. A younger, apprentice who now shared the same drive. The boy that once looked up to All Might was now his, their goal the same. Snuff out the flames of the previous One for All. If they had met under different circumstances, would they have gotten alone? The artificial Tomura in Deku's memories was obviously designed to keep the allusion as realistic as possible, but the villain wondered how much if it would really be his responses and actions. It dawned on him that he might've actually like Izuku, his drive and his intelligence if it wasn't for the boy's love and admiration for All Might. Now that the drive was destroyed and recreated; however, it meant that Tomura could use the boy the way he liked. Actually get along with him and he'll still follow Tomura around like a dog.

The two of them had cried when they watched their Sensei be taken away. Tomura was ready to throw a fit, a tantrum and destroy everything that was in that dark space. Kurogiri was ready to transport his hands away if he were to touch one of them, but Deku had come over and placed a hand on his shoulder once more, smiling through his tears.

"It's your time, Tomu-chan." He told him. In that instant, Tomura almost took that smile to be a reminiscence of All Might, but came to realize that it was a smile from Izuku Midoriya's heart that made him actually calm down.

He nodded. He was going to take down All Might. And his special weapon was standing willing next to him, ready to risk his life for him. Tomura was ready to destroy All Might and deny him everything. He couldn't wait to see the No. 1 Hero's reaction to Deku taking all of the hits from all of the heroes to protect him. The despair that was coming was inevitable.


	3. A Mother's Lament

After Kamino Ward, everyone had gone home with a piece of their hearts missing. All Might, also known as Toshinori Yagi, had stepped down as the No. 1 Hero, the world discovering his true form. The school found it to be the best course of action to have all the students move into the dorms for better protection and both All Might and Aizawa were making trips to the student's homes.

Bakugou sat on the family's sofa next to his father as his mother went up to answer the door. He was quiet, a lot more quiet than usual but both his parents understood why and didn't press him further. They knew their Katsuki was one to think at times like these, and the best action for them to take was to watch out for him and support him.

"Thank you for having us." All Might's 'new' voice sounded so much different. There wasn't any pep in his words, he sounded tired, groggy and _old._ Bakugou would've never said that out loud, but still, this man was his idol. _Deku's_ idol as well.

He looked up at him as both teachers took a seat.

"We've told you ahead of time," Aizawa started gently. "We'd like to hear your answer and give insight on any questions you may have. We understand that these are difficult times and you'd rather prefer to be with your son-"

"It's fine with us!" Mitsuki, Bakugou's mother, grinned and slapped the backside of his son. Bakugou's face scrunched up.

"Don't hit me you HAG!" Another hit to the back of his head.

"Respect your mother you LITTLE SHIT!" Both Toshinori and Aizawa blinked, feeling like they understood why Bakugou was the way he is. The bickering went on for a while, Masaru Bakugou trying to step in but with no results. Mitsuki turned back towards the teachers, her face softened.

"Considering everything that's happened, there really isn't any reason to not let our Katsuki stay with you. They told us that he was targeted by the villains and was nearly kidnapped." She left out the reason why he wasn't taken. "If he's still in danger, well, what can me and my husband do?" It was a truth that lingered over the two parents.

"We're not heroes, obviously. But our Katsuki is strong. Mr. Aizawa, I remember what you said about my son during one of his matches during the sports festival. He's not dumb, he's clever, careful, and driven!" She laughed, placing a hand on her son's head.

"Everyone knows about what happened to Izuku in this neighborhood." She brought up the name that left everyone silent, frozen and in pain. "This family still believes in you all, and we trust that you'll take care of our Katsuki _and_ bring back Izuku." Her face was hopeful, a small smile reached them. Bakugou looked away. His mother had been school friends with Inko, before she got married and kept their friendship throughout Deku and Katsuki's childhood. It was probably the reason why the two boys were always around each other when they were younger.

Mitsuki had once told him that while the boys were going to U.A, Inko Midoriya had voiced her concerns to her and admitted she was scared that her son would continue to be harassed by Katsuki. She had lectured him about that and he begrudgingly had to admit that Izuku "Deku" Midoriya was no longer someone that could be pushed around.

The Bakugous bowed their heads to the teachers, thanking them for their time and care.

As All Might and Aizawa headed out, the young fiery boy ran out to stop them both. His heart felt heavy again, a hand gripping his chest as he looked All Might directly.

"What is Deku to you?" He asked, recalling the moment he saw on the giant building's screen. All throughout school, it seemed like All Might had taken an interest to Deku. On top of that, the sudden "resurgence" of Deku's quirk was far too suspicious to ever leave Bakugou's mind. He then remembered that Deku had told him that his quirk was "gifted" to him.

Toshinori had stayed quiet, Aizawa took a look at the two of them and walked back into the car to give them privacy.

"Bakugou, my boy. Young Midoriya told you that his new found power was passed down, yes?" The man who was once the No. 1 Pro Hero, turned towards Bakugou. He could only nod, not sure what to say about it. He could definitely infer some things…

"I'm planning to tell everything to Midoriya's mother, if you'd like to come along you're welcome to hear." Bakugou's eyes widen.

-  
The last time Katsuki Bakugou was inside the Midoriya's household was probably before middle school. He used to come inside often, but mostly accompanied by his own mother. He remembered Inko Midoriya bringing out a specific brand of cookies that she knew Bakugou loved. He recalled never saying thank you and being hit by his mother after woofing down two at a time.

On the coffee table was a plate of those cookies and some tea, but the woman who was once known as "Auntie" to him wasn't smiling. Her face was red, blotted with tear stains. Inko's hair was a mess, her eyes sunken, swollen and tired. She probably hadn't eaten at all since the police told her what had happened to her son. Probably even before that.

"Mrs. Midoriya, we understand the amount of worry, sadness and pain you are in." All Might's voice treaded lightly. The woman had begun pulling at the fabric of her skirt.

"They told me to tell you that we are doing everything in our power to rescue your son, but as the previous No. 1 Hero and Izuku's mentor, I promise you I _will_ rescue him." Bakugou heard the essence of All Might's strength in his tone. Inko's face begun to scrunch up, tears streaming down the already-beaten out path.

"It's your fault." Her voice was soft, but they both heard her clearly. Her eyes, though red and wet with tears, looked malicious.

"I'm sorry, wha-"

"IT'S YOUR FAULT!" Inko screamed out, standing up abruptly. Both All Might and Bakugou were caught off guard, staying in their seats.

"Izuku's always looked up to you, he's wanted to be you! To be a hero! When I found out he was quirkless, I was relieved. B-But then he gets a quirk and all of a sudden he's coming home nearly broken, his hands smashed and bruised and blood a-a-and it's all because of YOU!" She spat harshly at All Might. Bakugou's eyes widen, feeling a hint of…fear? Guilt? All Might only watched, face saddened. While Bakugou felt the verbal lashings to be out of hand, Toshinori Yagi understood that Inko was only attacking him because she was a _mother._ She needed something to blame. He knew this would happen and readied himself for every single punch to the gut.

"If-If only he didn't get his quirk… but I know even then he would've still tried to become a hero no matter what, but with the quirk he has now he became so destructive and now he's-he's-" Toshinori got up and bowed his head.

"I'm the one that gave him his quirk." Inko and Bakugou's eyes widen, staring at him. The room had gone silent once again, Inko's sobbing had subsided. Her full attention was on the man.

"…What?"

-  
Bakugou didn't know how much time had passed. He didn't really understand what "One for All" but what really probed him in the back of his mind was the question: Why Deku? His turmoil had to be set aside, if he were to get angry about Deku being the "chosen" one then it was possible he would say more things he would regret. He might've said that Deku wasn't deserving, also something along the lines of how he should die. Not something he'd want to say in front of his worrying mother. He didn't know who would slap him first, All Might or Inko.

Once everything was explained, another air of quietness had plagued the room. The amount of tension that built up during the last hour or so had thickened further. The silence broke with more sobbing.

"My son… Izuku, he's my world, he's _my_ hero. I-I know that he's got the heart of a hero but if he just… didn't have a quirk he would've never been in this situation!" –Her voice rose again, tears and snot falling from her face.

"I know he wants to be a hero! I _know_ that he wanted your gift but as his mother I… I just can't stand this anymore! My heart can't take this, and now my boy is GONE!" Her wails struck chords into the two of them. Bakugou finally decided to speak up.

"Mrs. Midoriya-" Bakugou was ready to reassure her, ready to convince her that Deku would be brought back to her safely. She cut him off, slicing his words with her own, sharp retort.

"And YOU! You've always bullied him! You made him life a HELL as a kid! Don't think I didn't know! Every day he came back with bruises and burn marks, you didn't think I knew? You were AWFUL to him! And yet he, he saved you!" Her voice wavered, the anger building. The frustration and utter hatred shone through the tears in her eyes and Bakugou's chest ached.

"I'm not my son, so I can't understand why he would risk his entire life for someone like _you._ He truly is a hero, but I can't help think that it should've been _you_ taken." Inko's words were bitter, malicious, and unapologetic. A mother's love treaded across any danger, her love for her son shone the brightest in that moment.

Toshinori opened his mouth to say something, anything to buffer the poison spewing from the mother's mouth but Bakugou had stood up from his seat, storming over to Inko's side. The older man's heart jumped, his mind immediately went to the worse. If Aizawa hadn't chosen to stay in the car for this meeting then he was sure the young boy would be wrapped in bandages and pulled back. "Bakugou don't-"

The boy fell to his knees, placed his hands in front of him, and bowed his head to the ground in front of her.

"I'M SORRY!" Silence again.

"I know I'm a fucking asshole and I know what I did to Deku was wrong, but I swear to you I'm going to save him and it's not because I'm aiming to be a hero but it's because I owe it to your god damn son!" He couldn't stop himself from cursing in front of the mother. His nose was to the floor, no one could see the tears rolling down his nose alongside the clenched teeth holding back his cries.

"I SWEAR I'LL GET HIM BACK FOR YOU!" He screamed into the carpet. Toshinori stood there for a moment, dumbstruck by the usually prideful boy's actions. He got to his knees, bowing in front of the woman himself.

"We will rescue Izuku Midoriya with any means necessary, even if I have to give up my life." The once-hero poured from his heart. Inko could only stagger, falling to her own knees in front of them. She wrapped her arms around them and continued crying, wailing loudly.

Bakugou heard her muttered apologizes, begging them both for forgiveness and to bring her son home to her. He also heard her whisper, "Please, all of you come back alive."

They both nodded their heads.

-  
The move to the dorms was difficult for everyone. Many of them would've been excited if it wasn't for the fact there was someone missing. What was worse that this so-called missing student was not actually missing. He was with the villains now.

The very idea of Izuku Midoriya as a villain upset his classmates and the terror and hurt they felt rivalled the outcome of him being dead instead. If Deku knew what was happening to him right now, how would he take to that? Once they got him back, they would ask him that. They all waited for the day they could laugh about this. But a few of them refused to _just_ wait.

The class had organized a room-judging competition that a few of them didn't participate in. Bakugou wasn't going to give them the pleasure of breaking into his room, tearing through his armor and finding his inner feelings. It was just a room, but it was _his_ room that was his haven. He avoided participating in the competition by feigning fatigue, pretending to be asleep in his room. The competition was something to distract everyone from the worry and gloomy atmosphere, it was too obvious.

Everyone's laughter and smiles were bittersweet, but it was the best they can do during these hard times.

Once night fell and everyone went to their rooms, Bakugou went out of his room and became exploring his new living quarters. He needed to know how the kitchen worked so he could make his god damn food as well as where the different exits so he could walk out to train.

Before he walked into the common place, he stopped, hearing voices. He stood in the hallway, listening to see who they were. Probably that Kirishima and Kaminari idiot eating late at night. They seemed like those kind of people.

"He didn't recognize us, do you think they erased those memories… permanently?" Shit. That was Iida.

"If it's a quirk, I doubt that it is permanent. We just need to learn what kind of memory-altering quirk it is and what possible ways that can stop its affect." The calm voice was Todoroki's.

"Right as always, Todoroki!" The optimism in his voice wasn't as it used to be. "I just… can't believe this. Our Midoriya, a villain."

"I know. It goes against everything he is." A sigh followed.

"Todoroki, did you know about his past? When he was shouting at Bakugou, he never told me anything about his relationship with him. I always assumed they were strained friends thrown into competitive rivalry." Bakugou winced at his name being mentioned.

"No. Considering everything I told him about my life, I didn't know anything about him other that what he made public to the whole class." Bakugou couldn't see, but he felt Iida nodding his head. The silence in the air was calm. There was a cricket chirping outside the kitchen's window. Iida spoke up again, gently with caution.

"I knew Bakugou was vicious, but I never thought he'd tell someone to… you know." A nod from Todoroki was a reply, but nothing more. Iida continued. "Midoriya is truly a hero… He said he was alone before, with no friends and only Bakugou telling him to kill himself. But even so he… he saved him." Bakugou listened, his knuckles growing white from being clenched so tightly. He heard Iida's voice shake.

A sob escaped Iida's mouth, causing Todoroki to turn to him in surprise. Iida's head was low, leaning forward on the sofa. Tears fell onto the floor. "We couldn't save him… He was right in front of us and we left him." His voice quivered as Todoroki shifted closer, placing a hand onto his back.

"We couldn't get him that time, but we will. He's still alive, Iida. If it was any of us, we both know Midoriya would try again and again for us." Iida leaned back on the sofa, rubbing Iida's back.

"You're right. We'll save him, even if it takes the rest of my life!" Iida hand went up, wiping away his tears.

Bakugou turned away from the hallway, heading back up to his room. That stupid brat… If he didn't have One for All, Bakugou would assume Deku's quirk was something like "friendship building." It almost seemed like every person he comes into contact with becomes friends with him. Not just _friends_ , but he's built all these strong, mutual relationships. From round-face to four-eyes to half-half, not just them but everyone else in class seemed to revolve around Deku's enigma. His personality was bright, something that drew everyone to him.

When he got into his room, Bakugou was ready to smash his fist into the wall. He stopped himself, knowing that Kirishima next door would wake up and run over to his dorm to check on him. Bakugou didn't want any of that, he just wanted to be left alone and wallow in his suffering. The pain and suffering that he deserved.


	4. Strategies

Having the green-haired boy around felt… awkward. In a span of an hour or so, the boy he deemed to be a nuisance just itching to die was now his right-hand man. Tomura Shigaraki wasn't sure how the manipulation and mind-bend work. He assumed that new memories were placed into Izuku's head, but from how far back and what were the memories even? On top of that, how long of an effect would this be? Tomura had no one to ask as the one man that knew the answers to everything had been locked away.

Honestly, he was really interested to know the extents of the altered memories. He understood that the boy had been taken in by Sensei alongside Tomura. Okay. That was all he knew. Tomura didn't own any memories of the younger boy and what kind of relationship they had. _Have._ While he should've been treading carefully, making sure nothing sounded too odd that might've broken the quirk's effects, the tired man wanted to know just how brainwashed Izuku Midoriya really is.

The boy was sitting on a stool, talking with Kurogiri. He seemed to trust him enough to talk as much as he was now, explaining to the bartender about what had happened and how Sensei's plan for the League was to wait and regroup. Kurogiri, despite not having a face, seemed to be enjoying his talk with the young man. It was a break from the man-child he had to babysit, that's for sure.

Tomura stumbled over to the two, swiftly reaching out his hand to grab at Izuku's throat. While talking, the younger boy threw his own arm up to block Tomura's reach. He then grabbed his wrist and pulled it back.

"Sorry Kurogiri. Tomu-chan, what's up?" Izuku turned to look at him; his eyes weren't laced with fear, just puzzlement. Tomura had decided to attack the boy out of nowhere, but Izuku treated it like nothing at all. Was this something that occurred before in Izuku's implanted memories? Despite the action being extremely unpredictable?

He frowned, pulling his hand back. "Stop talking to Kurogiri." Actually, the villain didn't care about whether or not someone talked to the bartender. He needed an excuse for his outburst. Izuku only smiled at him, warmly. _Kindly._

"Hey, I know you're frustrated right now," Tomura raised an eyebrow. "But let's not get so feisty okay? We're discussing what to do from here on out." Izuku explained, turning back to Kurogiri. The bartender chuckled, causing Tomura to huff in annoyance and send the man a glare.

"So like I was saying, the best course of action is to rally up more villains into the league. Doesn't matter if they're small or large. We need numbers right now. All Might has retired right? But he's still a beacon of hope to everyone. People are going to think that we're going to lay low now that our leader is gone but that won't be the case." Izuku turned towards Tomura. "You're going to be leading us now, so what do you think?"

It caught Tomura off guard. His hands began moving towards his neck to scratch in annoyance but was stopped by Izuku. He took ahold of his hands before he began tearing at his neck. He looked at him, concerned.

"You gotta stop doing that. We don't have Sensei around to heal you if it gets really bad." He explained. Shit. Izuku was right about that. Sometimes when it got too bad, the wounds stung and irritated Tomura even more. They'd have to get Sensei's help.

Already, Izuku was acting like a picture-perfect advisor. He knew Tomura enough to stop him from self-destructing but still respected him enough as his leader to ask his opinion. How the fuck was this the same hero brat from before?

"Listen mop head," The best insult he could think of at the moment. "I don't want to bring in some stupid criminals who don't know our greater goal. Plus, they'll think that they're better than us and it'll piss me off." His fingers twitched, wanting to really touch something now.

Izuku only nodded. "You're right about that. Low criminals will be a hassle to control but at the moment we only have a few members." He nudged his head at the door that led to the common room. Izuku didn't know any of their names and referred to them as the "others." Tomura assumed that the only people he actually knew was him and Kurogiri.

"But don't think of them as actual members, think of them as stepping stones. Disposable." Izuku grinned. His face was twisted, something that even Tomura felt weird to see on the boy. "We'll just gather a bunch for an assault and let them die. I think we should target U.A." Tomura raised an eyebrow, looking from him to Kurogiri.

"Izuku, why U.A? We know it'll be heavily guarded now." Kurogiri spoke up, placing some of the cups he was polishing down. (Even if they weren't in a bar, it was a habit he couldn't break.)

"Well, if you think of it, it might be the easiest way to go to destroy the hope for the future. Those students are still kids, they're not pros yet even if they have some experienced under their belts. If we get rid of them, there won't be any future heroes raised in time to worry about! Then we get rid of the actual pro-heroes. I'm sure they'd feel an amount of despair not being able to protect some kids, don'tcha think?" The logic was there. The plan was, of course, risky and had to be thought out better, but the outline Izuku had sketched out began sinking in both Tomura's and Kurogiri's mind.

"Listen, Tomu-chan. It's your decision, but when you're fighting a stage in the video game, do you go right to the boss? Or get rid of all the underlings first?" Shit. He even knew to make game references. It became clear that whatever Sensei did to the boy's mind, it was phenomenal.

"… We'll think about it." Tomura replied, frowning still. Kurogiri looked to Izuku.

"I believe it's an excellent strategy. Before then, I'd advise you to go meet the newest members of the League and familiarize yourself with their quirks and personality. We'll make a strategy." This made the boy beam brightly. Izuku hopped off the stool he was sitting on and headed towards the door.

"Thanks Kurogiri! And while we're on the subject, I think it's fair to say I'm suggesting this plan on U.A because… Well…" Izuku's face began to flush with embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his head.

"There's someone I really want to kill there!" He almost laughed it out before heading through the door to meet the other villains.

Kurogiri turned to Tomura, placing his hands down on the table. "He makes a good point. Though he doesn't understand the predicament he's in. It's more than likely that the hero's course of action is going to be rescuing Izuku." Tomura began scratching his neck again.

"The boy is blood-thirsty now, so he'd want to fight them; however, I find this risky as we still don't know how the quirk's ability can be dispelled. If he were to face his former friends, they might be able to find a way to break through to him." Tomura scratched harder.

"Shigaraki, what do you want to do?" Tomura began to scratch harder and stopped, remember Izuku's touch. He would probably get mad if he started bleeding. He placed his hand down.

"We don't know shit about what Sensei did to him, but I don't think it's something that can be easily fixed. Sensei's smarter than that. If he wants to fight we should let him." Tomura huffed angrily, his fingers itching to scratch his own skin.

"As you wish." Kurogiri turned towards the door. Tomura turned too, walking towards it.

"He's our's now. There's no way that any of those brats can bring him back with their dumb power of friendship or whatever. I'm actually getting excited imagining the horrors on their face when Izuku kills one of them." Tomura smirked. If they were to get Izuku to U.A and slaughter one of those twerps, it would land a heavy toll on all of them. Even if Izuku were to snap out of his hold and be returned, their lives would never be the same. The idea was picture perfect, except for the fact Tomura didn't want Izuku to leave the League. He was the missing piece that they needed for success. The heroes can't have him back.

Izuku Midoriya did not have a villain name. At first when he considered using the name "Deku" it only made him angry enough to demolish an interior wall. The implications of the name would never change, it was always an insult to him that meant "the one who can't do anything." He always wondered if his parents were aware when they chose the name for him. He was better off going by his last name which was basic enough. (As his hair was green and it made enough sense.) But even that name left a bitterness in his mouth. It was a family name and he didn't know if it was because he resented his parents for abandoning him or wanted to spare their feelings. After all, his parents weren't awful, they just weren't there for him. He wondered what might've happened if his mother stayed at home, with him. Maybe he wouldn't have felt the need to disappear that day.

He had met all of the villains in the common area and wrote down their quirks and personalities in his notebook when they weren't looking. That was something Izuku never stopped doing throughout his life. When Sensei had found him and nurtured Izuku back to health, his notebook was presented to him with compliments and praises. Sensei found it on the ground close to where Izuku had fallen and went through every single page. (How did he even read it? Maybe Tomura told him.) Izuku was encouraged to keep writing, causing the boy to cry at the time.

All of the quirks he learned just now had given him an idea for a strategy, but he would need to write them down in a separate notebook and run some simulations. There was data missing, the hero course's quirks. For some reason, Izuku felt like he had written every student's quirks and abilities down beforehand. It was confusing since he didn't know anything about the class except that Kacchan had been enrolled and placed in that specific class. Maybe it was because he saw the Sports Festival? That should be it, he needed to see some reruns of the U.A Sport Festival to comply a new notebook for a new strategy against the U.A kids.

"Izukun!" Himiko Toga began pulling at his sleeve, a hand to her face. She was blushing madly, her wild smile was a comfort to Izuku actually. The other villains looked at her, ready to stop her from saying anything that could give away some important information.

"Yes Toga-chan?" Izuku flashed a small smile to her. She nearly squealed.

"I think you're so cool! You seem to be thinking really hard? What are you thinking of? A strategy?" She started rambling as Dabi walked over, frowning.

"Leave him alone, we need to get ready for what he's planning." He interrupted, making Toga pout in response. Dabi turned to stare at the boy, his face full of admiration and respect. Both Toga and him were taken by the boy, thought the latter wouldn't admit it as openly as the girl. Izuku laughed, as the door opened. Both Tomura and Kurogiri walked into the room as the villains watched.

"Ah, Tomu-chan! What did you decide?" Izuku asked, pulling out his notebook and a ball point pen.

Tomura licked his chapped lips, moving a hand into his pocket to retrieve his 'father', placing it onto his face. "We're going with your plan, Izuku. Congrats." The last part felt like friendly sarcasm, at least to Izuku.

"Great! If I can, I want to get more information on the hero course students at U.A. They may still be children but they know their strengths and are still heroes-in-training regardless. I was thinking I could watch some reruns of the school sport's festival." A few fingers twitched from Tomura before Kurogiri walked over.

"Izuku, I don't believe that's wise." A hand was placed on the boy's shoulder.

"Why's that? I know some of the student's quirks, especially the ones that are from well renowned families, but if I checked the footage from the sport's festival I can write up an entire spreadsheet." Izuku explained, opening up his notebook.

"That's not what I meant. The footage from the Sports Festival is limited and unreliable. The students have grown tremendously since then and I would advise you do current research and these students and their quirks." Kurogiri took into account that if Izuku were to check the sports festival footage he would definitely see himself. Whether that would confuse him or break the manipulation all together, it was something to avoid.

"Kurogiri you're so right! Ugh!" Izuku's hands went to his face. "How could I be so dumb! Does that mean I get permission to do some spying?" His heart leaped. His dream of going to U.A was going to be realized! Though in a different way.

The bartender looked to Tomura to see his opinion on it. Tomura only grumbled and reached to Izuku, wrapping four fingers around his throat. Izuku didn't flinch, or even seem to mind. His smile stayed.

"Fine. But don't get yourself caught. If someone sees you, kill them." The orders were out, Izuku's face shone, a grin spreading from ear to ear.

-  
Both Toga and Dabi were assigned to go with Izuku as he surveyed the dorm buildings. They weren't ready for actual spying and researching on quirks just yet, it was a precursor before the actual investigations. They needed to know the layout of the dormitory, every single nook and cranny as well as where all the security surveillances were. Izuku wouldn't know, but the two other villains were there to keep Izuku in check. If something were to happen that jeopardized his brainwash, they would take him back immediately. Izuku, on the other hand, felt that Toga was there as a precaution. If they were to be caught, Toga would use the blood she had gotten from Izuku (willingly) to transform into him. It would throw the heroes off and the real Izuku would make his escape. Dabi was insurance. His quirk could destroy the entire building really, as well as the forest surrounding them. While Izuku wasn't too happy to be playing babysitter at the moment, it was still true that three heads were better than one.

"We're only on a survey mission, so really study this layout okay? Find as many cameras as you can, mark and note them. We'll split up and meet back here in 10, got it?" He gave the orders out to the two of them before they dispersed. Toga had used her quirk to transform into a civilian whose blood she took earlier in the day. She would circle the perimeter on foot to see how close they could be without hitting any red zones.

Dabi would stay close to the meet up point, watching the dorms from the front. If Izuku gave him the signal, he would spread his dark fire at the opening of the dorms to prevent anyone from leaving as they made their escape. That was only if they needed to get away if the mission had gone haywire.

Izuku himself, was too happy about the mission. Even though it was just the dormitories and not the actual school, Izuku felt like he could cry in happiness to be on campus one way or another. This could've been his at one point.

What caught Izuku's eyes was the track field and battle ground they had added close to the dorms. Of course there was the actual field near the classrooms, but they must've thought it would be rewarding to have some of the outdoor training facilities near the dormitories. This school could really spend some money.

He took note of the size and how far away it was from the dorms versus the entrance. He watched on top of a tree branch, using his fingers to mark distances between buildings. He made notes, both mentally and physically about the area. It seemed like it would be a good place to lure the students, as the outdoor field was on the side of the dormitories. They could block the way to the front and back entrances, leaving them on the field facing a forest.

Out of the corner of Izuku's eye, he watched as a student walked across the field and sat down in the middle, legs-crossed. Squinting, Izuku couldn't help but wonder what idiot kid would want to wander into the cold night when there was danger amiss. The whole point of the dorms was so that the kids could be rounded up and watched over. Here was someone, willingly leaving that protection. It almost made Izuku want to kill whoever it was.

A flash of white and red finally settled in Izuku's vision. He grinned. Shouto Todoroki was out by himself, middle of the night doing… what? Meditating? What a loser!

He only knew about the boy through his father. Endeavor, now the No. 1 Pro Hero. Shouto himself had acquired part of his father's quirk as well as an ice quirk. He remembered that much when Izuku saw him for the first time at Kamino Ward. With a dual quirk like that, it seemed that he would be the biggest threat to the League.

Izuku's hand twitched, moving towards his belt to grab a knife. He wanted to know more about the boy, his quirk and his background. There was something intriguing about the boy. Maybe it was the scar that blotted itself onto his face. Maybe it was the fact that both his eyes were closed, his chest rising and falling as he breathed in the air.

He could've taken him by surprise easily. Throw a few knives, pin him down steal him, torture him for information, the usual things. Izuku had to stop those thoughts, knowing he had to stick to the plan he himself had created. But… when would something like this be placed in front of him again? Something so nicely wrapped up and presented to him.

A hand was raised, the knife was positioned. He aimed for the boy's palms. As Izuku's arm fell to throw, he stopped suddenly. His arm quivered, refusing to let go of the knife he had in his hands. Something was compelling him to stop, something that didn't feel like… him.

 _Fuck._ Was it a quirk? Who was there?

Izuku quickly moved his other arm and then placed his armed hand down to his side. Huh. Izuku quickly looked everywhere, scanning for any heroes ready to fight him. No one was around.

Maybe it was intuition that stopped Izuku from throwing the knife. It might be the logical, rational side to Izuku's brain that told him _stop! Don't do it! You're only here to survey the area dummy!_ He sighed. Izuku was letting his blood lust get the better of him. He sat on the branch and watched the boy for a while longer before heading to the other side to scan the other side of the dormitory.

Everything was easy to draw out. It was exactly what a dormitory should look like so whatever interior rooms Izuku couldn't see, he could at least map out and infer the inside. He was also able to match some of the dorm rooms to a student based on balcony _alone._ Izuku had a list complied of every Class 1-A student's name and picture. Some of the balconies screamed out who their owner was. Honestly? Pathetic. Ignorant. There wasn't any time to dress up a room when you know that there are still villains out there, after you. You don't want to announce to the world that you were living there. He'd have to frown at the leopard throw blanket hanging on the balcony of a dorm. (It was probably Mina Ashido's, he was very certain about it.)

As Izuku headed back to the rendezvous point, he took a quick glance over to the field again, seeing if Todoroki was still there. He was, sitting in the same position he was in the first time Izuku saw him. The difference was that he was muttering something. Izuku might have seen the glimmer of a tear in his eye before leaving with Togo and Dabi back to the villain's base.

For some unknown reason, it made Izuku want to cry as well.


	5. Reaching Out

It was a huge surprise to find that the U.A security system was not as brilliant as it was made to be. Izuku was easily able to keep his distance from the school as well as the dormitory without ever being detected. There were no close calls or instances of getting caught. Either the school was completely shit at protecting its youth or Izuku was just _too_ good. He assumed it was the former, feeling that his stealth could've been replicated by any villain. Maybe it was because he was modest that he thought that, but nevertheless, he had collected a good amount of data.

Kurogiri had given him some prior knowledge about the students of U.A in the form of a piece of printed paper. It was a well-organized spreadsheet of the student rooster, their quirks and weaknesses. It was a quick reference for Izuku to check when writing up his hero analysis sheets. Not only did he get the data of Class 1-A, but he also achieved to find out the rooster for other classes, from the hero department all the way to support, then even to general studies.

He noticed everyone's routine, or so he thought. Sometimes kids would be in his blind spot as he wasn't likely to be in front of the dormitory's entrance when spying. On top of that, he was never able to look into the building no matter what angle he pushed himself in. His binoculars never cut it either, so it gave Izuku a feeling of unrest and anger.

Izuku Midoriya was a perfectionist. When it came to his hero analysis, no lines were left blank. He needed to make sure that every single basis was touched, to find strengths, weaknesses and _possibilities._ Tomura and Kurogiri let Izuku take his time, knowing that the boy would only get antsy if he didn't receive all the data he wanted. Even in just a few days, the villains had felt like they knew the boy for longer, maybe even years. Despite only Izuku's mind being warped, it almost felt like reality was changing all on its own as a result.

After taking more notes on the students, Izuku was free to do as he pleased. Tomura had given him permission to go about wherever he liked, as long as he was not seen by any suspecting heroes. In all of his memories, Izuku had only been inside of the headquarters unless on a mission with the other members. Now that Sensei had been captured and their base relocated, Izuku felt like it was time to see the things he's missed.

He went to the arcade sometimes, finally taking Tomura's suggestion to try playing games. In his words, they were "good for strategy making" which left Izuku laughing to his face. The idea of Tomura coming up with a clever strategy was hilarious, which left the older villain angry, nearly disintegrating Izuku's face off. Nonetheless, the games were fun and could be applicable in certain situations. If anything, Izuku played them for pure fun. To any other passerby, he looked like just another high schooler having a good time inside of an arcade. No one knew who he was and where he came from.

The disguise he wore was basic, something he borrowed from Tomura. A black hoodie, jeans and his red shoes. For whatever reason, those red shoes were a comfort to him and he rarely took them off.

On other occasions, Izuku led himself to the apartment building where he once lived. He felt his heart pulling him to the structure he once called home, despite no one ever really being there. Izuku imagined where his parents were, and if they still lived there. It was a sad thought and he let it be.

On this day while walking, Izuku stopped near the Dagobah Municipal Beach Park. Maybe he stopped because the sun was starting to set, and the light glistening on the water had given him some sort of beacon… of hope? No, it wasn't hope, maybe it was a sense of longing. He remembered the time when he was younger and the beach had been covered in garbage and debris. Izuku couldn't help but wonder who had cleaned up the mess and their reasoning to why someone would go to such an extent for a mere beach park.

Izuku couldn't help but shed a tear and he didn't know why.

-  
Bakugou was known to sneak out of the dormitory at odd times. His reasoning? To find Deku. Everyone in the class knew that was the reason despite his protests and vicious declarations of insults. His classmates would wonder who was taking Deku's disappearance and villainy the hardest, but the consensus was always Katsuki Bakugou. Even as he roared in disagreement and denial, everyone just _knew._ Half of the class understood that Bakugou wasn't ready to reveal his deepest regrets and pain, so they let him be. No one stopped him from trying to look for Deku.

Kirishima had offered to go along but was given an explosion to the face as he attempted to follow the hot-headed boy. The pride swelling inside of Bakugou was still too great to accept help from his classmates. On top of that, he didn't want Kirishima to follow him when he went to the Midoriya household.

Ever since he declared to Inko Midoriya that he will rescue her son, Bakugou had isolated himself from his classmates. Even if they all were friends with the green-haired brat, it was his burden alone to take on. His responsibility. His _debt._

Only a few choice classmates had tried to offer their help, those being people he were… acquaintances with such as Eijirou Kirishima and Denki Kaminari. Other offered, like Shouto Todoroki, Tenya Iida, and Ochako Uraraka; however, those were all close to Deku and felt like pebbles to him. None of them could help him, it was something Bakugou had to face by himself. He didn't need any of them. He could save Deku by himself.

Bakugou had left the Midoriya residence once the sun started to set. He had continued to visit her knowing that she would be lonely and refused to leave her in a pit of despair. Despite his own mother going to her place every day or so, Bakugou still felt the need to be there for her. Every time he came over she would bring out the cookies he liked as a young child. Even while in pain, she was still thinking of others. It was no argument where Deku had gotten his kindness.

The way back to the station would've been easier if he had chosen not to take the scenic walk. Truth be told, he just didn't want to go back to the dorms. Going back meant being defeated, it meant that he didn't find Deku.

There was something about looking out at the beach park as the sun descended that gave Bakugou a sense of uneasiness. To him it meant the day was ending, another day a failure. He wondered who had cleaned up the beach awhile back, thinking that they must've been paid a good lot of money to even attempt something like that. What was strong was that the park had been cleaned all in a night's work. That was the true mystery.

With his hands in his pocket, he stopped to look out towards the ocean. The sea breeze had blown his hair back gently. Bakugou couldn't help but frown. He turned to continue walking until he saw someone else in the distance, on the beach, staring out into the ocean. As the wind blew, the hood that rested on the person's head had fallen down, revealing a mass of green hair.

His eyes widen, he continued to stare. Bakugou's body froze as the wind continued to blow. Could it really be him? Or was this some sort of illusion? Maybe something of his own creation where he desperately wanted to see Deku.

When the boy turned his head, Bakugou saw a tear roll down his cheek. He knew.

"DEKUUUU!" The name channeled itself down the beach, the waves following in its path as Bakugou used his explosions behind him to propel himself forwards. The amount of adrenaline that burst through him was unimaginable, the most he's ever had. One of his hands stopped, throwing itself up as he readied himself to land a punch on the boy. Izuku, on the other hand, recovered from his shock and reacted.

A fist slammed into the sand below, Izuku used the force of the punch to throw the sand up in a smoke-screen like manner. Bakugou fell into wall of sand and rolled onto his back, standing up quickly and gained his footing. In front of him stood Izuku Midoirya, readying his fists with a small smile on his face.

"Wow, Kacchan, I really didn't expect to see you." The boy's eyes darkened. He would've went on to say something about not seeing Kacchan leave the building but he refrained from doing so. He couldn't give away the fact he was spying on the campus.

"Deku you piece of shit where have you been?! Do you know how much trouble you've caused me?!" Bakugou's hands twitched, explosions readying as he panted heavily. Izuku could only ready himself.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know that I was _your_ problem." A coy smirk set Bakugou off. He threw himself at the other boy, using his right hand to land a blow. Izuku blocked it with a kick upwards, Bakugou's momentum being thrown off.

"It's been years but I remember that you always start with a right hook. I think you're underestimating me, Kacchan." Deku leaned in to deliver his own right hook punch, smashing his fist into Bakugou's face as he flew feet across the sand. He turned his body around to land on his feet on the sand, using his fingers to hook into the sand to stop him from moving.

 _Shit._ Bakugou's rage was getting the better of him. He should've known that even brainwashed Deku would remember about his god damn right hook. Habits don't die without leaving a fight.

"DEKU!" He screamed out, charging right back at him. "SNAP THE FUCK OUT OF IT YOU STUPID BRAT!" Bakugou used his explosions to propel himself over Deku, then using his left hand he changed the moment of the fall to land a kick on the boy's back.

Izuku fell forward and quickly regained his balance, a smile still plastered on his face. Bakugou himself, could not smile throughout the entirety so far. His focus was on the boy in front of him. Knock him out. Take him back. That was the plan but easier said than done.

"YOU'E BEEN BRAINWASHED!" Bakugou screamed out, the anger and disgust in his voice was evident. If he could get Deku to realize his situation, he might be able to pull himself out of it. He remembered the sport festival and the match he had with Shinsou. No one was able to break out of his hold by themselves but fucking Deku did it, so he should fucking do it now! "YOU'RE NOT A DIRTY ASS VILLAIN SO STOP ACTING LIKE ONE YOU FUCKFACE!"

Izuku could only stare at Bakugou, a face that screamed disappointment.

"Honestly, what the hell are you even talking about? If you're trying to get me off guard, it's not going to work." Izuku charged back at Bakugou, his fists surging with power as he threw a punch in the air, sending waves of wind and sand hurling towards Bakugou. The other quickly used his quirk to create an explosion to counter it, but once the sand and smoke subsided, Izuku was there in front of him, a first thrown up to catch Bakugou right under the chin.

 _THAT FUCKER!_ Bakugou winced in pain as he fell backwards. Before he could get up, two knives plunged themselves into both of his palms. A scream was released as he tried to use his explosions, the sweat slipping into the wound the knives had made and began tearing apart the skin. His explosions were failing him. _His_ explosions were hurting him.

The knives bore into his now-charged palms, deep enough to exit out of his hand and into the sand below him. Izuku walked over to him, a frown appearing on his face.

"Kacchan, why do I feel like… you were holding back? Or maybe it's the fact that I might be…" Izuku's eyes lit up as he leaned down. "Stronger than you?" His lips moved to turn into a twisted smile, the same one that Bakugou and the others had seen during Kamino Ward. The look of a villain ready to kill.

"Honestly, I really wanted a match with you that wasn't this disappointing, but I was told that if I were to get caught I should kill whoever catches me. You're not really an exception, Kacchan." The boy sighed, standing up as he pulled out another knife from his belt. The blade shone against the sunset, the sun seemed to be falling faster as Bakugou felt his life's clock ticking.

Bakugou gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with hatred and terror and remorse and guilt. Everything swirled into his vision as he felt his eyes sting.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this." His voice was barely audible.

"Uh, what?" Izuku frowned again.

"IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE THIS! I was supposed to be kidnaped, not you! You fucking saved me when I didn't fucking ask you too and now you're like this and it's my fault!" His breath hitched, his lungs continued to pump out verbal spews. "This isn't the fucking loser who never quits, this isn't you and for once in your life let _me_ save YOU!"

In that moment, Bakugou thought he saw a flicker of Izuku's old self in his eyes. It quickly diminished as it was replaced with a seething smile barred behind gritted teeth. His eyes went back to craving death.

"What the hell are you saying Kacchan? You trying to save me? All you've done was DESTROY me! SO NOW I'M GOING TO DESTROY YOU!"

Bakugou's face fell flat. His view wasn't the knife that was being thrusted down, nor was it the sun in the background finally fading away. It was the fact that Izuku had started crying, his tears falling onto his face as it mixed with his own tears that had fallen.

In that moment, it looked like Izuku's face was asking for help.

 _FWOOSH !_

A stream of fire had been blasted from the side, causing Izuku to jump back from his spot to dodge the attack. He turned to see two boys charging towards him. Both of them were the boys Izuku had saw at Kamino Ward. Now he knew their names: Eijirou Kirishima and Shouto Todoroki.

Izuku scowled, switching his knife's hold from bottom to top as he charged towards the two of them. Todoroki had sent another flame blast towards the boy, which Izuku dodged by jumping in the air. A wall of ice had created itself from the floor up to make a ceiling. Using his legs, Izuku quickly kicked down the ice barrier and landed onto the sand, his knife aiming to the nearest student. His blade clanked onto Kirishima's hardened arm, Izuku gritting his teeth as he tried another strike to the boy's head. Another arm was raised to block the attack, but Izuku was ready with his other hand himself, throwing a punch towards the boy's middle. Again, more hardening but he felt the blow of his powered-up punch get through to the boy.

"Shit Midoriya! You can really throw a punch!" Kirishima smiled, wincing as he grabbed ahold of Izuku's wrist. Izuku quickly whipped back his blade to stab at the hand that was holding him. The boy let go and they both furthered distance from each other.

Todoroki had made his way over to Bakugou's side, helping him pull the blades out of his palms.

"What the fuck are you two doing here?!" He spat, holding onto his hands as he felt the blood bubbling down his palms. Todoroki pulled first aid out of his pouch and handed it to him.

"Saving you, obviously." It was too direct and Bakugou was about to yell something before Todoroki pressed the gauze onto his palms. "Don't think we were just going to ignore every time you leave the dorms. You're not the only one who's driven to save him."

Before Bakugou could say anything else, he heard quick footsteps race towards the location. Whipping his head up, he saw every single one of his classmates racing down the pathway to the beach. No one was missing from Class 1-A, even Aizawa was accompanying them.

"Bakugou are you alright?!" The voice belonged to Uraraka. She had ran to his side as the rest of the class caught up with Kirishima to surround Izuku.

The villain boy gritted his teeth. He was outnumbered, he didn't have all of assessments ready or a well-thought out strategy. He could learn as he fought but when it was twenty versus one, well, there was going to be a disadvantage. He tried to recall every single one of their faces and names but became frustrated as his mind began fogging up. Instead he turned his attention to Bakugou, his face twisted with malice and envy.

"Kacchan, look at everyone who came to help you out! Must be great to have so many friends huh? HUH KACCHAN?!" His voice was laced with venom, but at the same time sounded like a wounded puppy.

Bakugou had gotten himself up, standing as he held onto his hands.

"YOU IDIOT! THEY'RE ALL _YOUR_ FRIENDS!" He screamed out, matching the other boy's anger.

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!" Izuku's head began to spin, the memories in his head began to fizzle in and out of existence before he sees Sensei in front of him. Everything stopped moving, his memories stop pulling at themselves. His resolves are solid once again.

He looks towards the class and begins to smile, a fist readying itself as the entire class gets itself ready for combat. Before Izuku could do anything, a warp gate appears behind him and a hand reaches to grab Izuku.

"DEKU NO!" Bakugou tried using his explosions but stopped, remembering the pain and wounds he has. He attempts to run towards the warp gate but he sees Deku disappear, leaving everyone stranded on the beach.

The scream of despair echoes through the beach, reaching to the moon that had risen from the horizon. Bakugou's cries of defeat reaches even the stars.

-  
"Can't believe we had to come and rescue your ass." Silence. The sound of scratching begun.

"Now we're going to have to take privileges away from you, Izukun." Tomura sat in front of Izuku. The boy was looking at the ground, frowning as he gripped the sofa cushion.

"Are you even listening right now?" Tomura reached out with all of his fingers to Izuku's face, but found that the boy didn't block or move away. Four of his fingers rested on his face, his pinky out.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Tomura frowned himself, finally catching Izuku's eyes.

"I'm pissed, sorry. I got carried away." The feeling of disappointment had spread across Izuku's mind, causing him to feel like he needed to punish himself for it. "I can't be reckless anymore, I'm mad at myself." He added. Tomura retracted his fingers.

"Oh shut the fuck up, you're fine. Go get some sleep, we'll talk more later." Tomura huffed angrily, standing up as he grabbed ahold of the boy's arm (with one finger out) and forced him to stand. Izuku only moved towards the door before Tomura followed.

"Stop moping you baby, do you need me to tuck you in?" The mocking sarcasm was met with a snort and then a laugh. Tomura watched as Izuku smiled to him. Good. He was still his.

-  
The scolding Bakugou received had fallen on deaf ears. Aizawa made his attempts, but found it futile and stopped, leaving him in the care of his classmates. There was nothing he could say to make the situation better, and reprimanding him would probably make things worse. After all, anyone in his place would've done the same thing, himself included.

His face was sullen, looking down at the ground as he sat on one of the common room's couches. His hands were wrapped in bandages which gave Bakugou a sick feeling curling in his other classmates were around him, though all scattered to other sofas and even to the kitchen to give him space. Only Kirishima had sat on the floor in front of him, looking at Bakugou in the eyes.

"I know you didn't want help, but you gotta listen to us man. You can't do this alone." Kirishima's words seemed to have travelled through empty space. Everyone's worrying faces watched Bakugou and any reactions he would give.

"I know how it feels to seek vengeance, and become fueled by your own personal agenda." That was Iida's voice. His hand was placed onto Bakugou's shoulder. He didn't move to shrug it off.

"If we all band together, we can save him!" The optimism in Uraraka's voice didn't help the situation. More voices tried to reassure Bakugou but everything bounced off of him. It wasn't until Todoroki spoke.

"Did you see his eyes?" Bakugou looked up at the other boy, finally giving some sort of reaction.

"I saw tears. Before Kirishima and I had gotten there, he must've been crying. What did you see?" All eyes went back to Bakugou. Truth be told, the boy felt anxious having everyone waiting for his response. It was different than when he declared his victories over speakers or when he threatened his classmates. The words lumped up in Bakugou's throat.

"He looked like he was calling for help." A gasp from Uraraka pierced through the room.

"That means he's still in there! He's calling out for help! Bakugou!" She moved closer to him, her fists balled up. "He's not gone!"

Bakugou remained silent. Even so, what the fuck could he do? He was stuck to the ground, unable to do anything. Even with pleading eyes, Bakugou still wasn't able to save him. He was a failure. A weakling that couldn't do anything even if it was presented right in front of him. He was useless, dead in the water, a waste of space, nothing more than a-

"Bakugou." Todoroki's voice chilled the air. "Do you think Midoriya had made it this far all by himself?" Everyone turned to look at him. "He didn't just rely on his own strength, but he had help along the way and cherished the bonds he created. If it wasn't for him reaching out to me, I would've never been able to forgive myself."

Bakugou recalled the moment in between the cavalry battle and the final tournament during the sports festival. He remembered hearing about Todoroki's past.

"He reached out to me and helped me, so I'll do the same to you." Todoroki held out his hand.

"You want to save him but so do we. You put all this burden on yourself when you didn't have to. You think that this is a path only you can take, but that's not true. Let us walk with you. Let's save him." Bakugou stared at Todoroki, seeing the resolve in his eyes. That fucking idiot… always going around and saving people when they weren't asking for it…

He took ahold of the boy's hand, nodding his head gently. Their grip strengthened. He had to let go of his guilt and fill it with something else. Something better, some kind of fuel that would drive every single one of them.

The entire class gaped and cheered, moving closer to Bakugou as he kept his sights on Todoroki's.

He returned the boy's smile with one of his own.


	6. Games

To Kurogiri it almost seemed like Tomura was postponing all of their plans to destroy the heroes. Reason? Well it was obvious to anyone that the young man wanted to keep the new addition under his control. He spent a considerable amount of time with Izuku, sometimes talking and sometimes just being close to him. It was a foreign sight to behold, at least to see Tomura acting like that. The man was usually playing a game by himself, growing frustrated by the second until he disintegrated something nearby. Now Tomura seemed to have mellowed out, using Izuku as a catharsis for his pent up anger and childish tantrums. Izuku, on the other hand, seemed to be fine being used as a vehicle for the older boy's desires. What their Sensei had done to him was pure craftsmanship – truly something to behold.

"So I was thinking we can work on making a pathway towards the school, maybe underground. We could be right below them and they'll never notice, but then I guess we would have to worry about certain quirks like Mezou Shouji's and Kyoka Jirou's that could possible hear us huh?" Izuku had been rambling out different tactic and strategies to Tomura who lied down on the dirtied sofa, legs up on the arm rest. He had Father's hand on his face, his own hands folding on top of his stomach. To anyone passing by, Tomura looked like he was asleep. In actuality, he was very intent on listening to Izuku's voice.

"The best course of action might be spreading them all out in locations that don't accustom their quirks, but even then I feel they're well adapted to changes in environment…" Izuku rubbed his face, scratching out something on his notebook before realizing he could've easily erased the writing instead. He took the pink eraser and began furiously erasing the work.

"Maybe it would be better to lure all of them away and take them all at once, it would save time and I'm sure we can do it if we brought them to our terrain…" He continued to mumble, now mostly to himself as he scribbled in his notebook. Tomura reached up and took ahold of Izuku's wrist, one index finger off the skin.

"Enough. You're over thinking." Tomura let go of Izuku's wrist, causing the boy to sigh in annoyance rather than relief.

Izuku turned towards Tomura, looking down at him. "Do you have any ideas? Did you even hear anything I said?" He asked, a small smirk spreading on his face. It was met with a pap to the head from Tomura.

"Of course I did. I think right now you need some new perspectives." Tomura hoisted himself up to a sitting position, scratching the back of his head lightly, not enough to break skin. "I think you've been frying your brain out being locked up in here, probably our fault for making you stay put." His hand went up to scratch his neck but stopped himself, remembering that Izuku was there.

Izuku hummed thoughtfully, leaning back and stretching his arms back. He rolled his head to stretch out his neck and pulled up his notebook, reading it over. His eyebrows furrowed, re-reading what he wrote in the rushed chicken scratch on the paper. "What do you mean? Can I go out then?" His face beamed at the thought.

Tomura sighed, nodding his head. "Yeah I think you should go out, but I'm going with you this time."

A questionable look came from Izuku's face while Kurogiri made his curiosity unnoticed. Tomura stood up from the sofa and walked over to Kurogiri.

"Take us to Hosu Arcade Walk." He took Father's hand off his face and slid it into his hoodie's pocket. Izuku got himself up and ran over to Tomura's side.

"Wait really? We can go out?" The excitement was apparent on Izuku's face – he almost looked like a child that was given an all sugar buffet. Tomura nearly snorted at the sight but headed towards the bartender.

"Kurogiri, we're going out. We'll be back whenever." It was a command. The bartender only nodded in acknowledgement as Izuku ran towards the two, nearly jumping up and down.

The warp portal was out in front of them, Tomura rubbing his neck gently as to not scratch it. Izuku thanked Kurogiri and walked through the portal. Before the older boy could go in, Kurogiri placed down the glass loudly on the table. "Make sure you keep him in check. We don't want another incident to happen. Are you sure this is okay?"

Tomura only nodded his head, placing his hoodie over his head. "Yeah yeah, it'll be fine. I'll look after the brat." The word almost sounded endearing. Kurogiri nodded once more as Tomura entered through the warp gate.

-  
The boardwalk was lively, despite it being the evening. There was a wooden walk way towards different carnival stands as well as entrances to arcades. On top of that, there were multiple carnival rides that operated by locals either using mechanics and even the quirks of those operators. It was a nice boardwalk where people went to enjoy themselves. The only reason Tomura knew the place is because they had a certain vintage game in the back of one of the arcades that he liked to play. (He filled up the high score rankings rather easily.)

Izuku stood next to him, dressed like any other teenager who was going out for a night of fun with friends. A plain hoodie and T-shirt (for some reason had the kanji that said T-Shirt?) and jeans. No one knew that the two of them were villains, people who sought to end the age of heroes. The green-haired boy beamed at everything, taken by all of the lights and different kind of games there were.

"We're seriously here? Going to play games?" He nearly laughed at the fact. Tomura raised an eyebrow, stuffing his hands into his hoodie pockets.

"Yeah. You're paying though." Tomura looked down at the boy whose face dropped.

"W-Wait! Me? I didn't bring my wallet! Actually I don't think I even had a wallet to begin with either, I actually don't know what I've been doing I mean sometimes Kurogiri gives me money but he didn't give me any now so I don't have anything on me, oh man I'm sorry Tomu-chan we came all this way and now we can't-" Izuku was interrupted by loud laughter. Tomura covered his face with his own hand, a pinky up but began snorting into his sleeve.

"Shut the fuck up you idiot, I was joking. C'mon." He took ahold of Izuku's arm with his other hand and dragged him to one of the carnival stalls despite his protests of betrayal. The game was a simple one, it was throwing the ball to hit one of the cartoon paper monsters on top of tables. The stall had a sign that read "NO QUIRK CHEATING" to which Izuku found rather amusing. He quickly scanned at the prizes that were decorating the exterior of the stall. Some All Might plushes (no thanks!) but there was some cute animal ones that Izuku noticed instead. A certain stuffed animal caught Izuku's eyes: it was a cow with a mad face on it. Its eyes were low and its body looked like it was slumping. For some reason, it reminded him of Tomu-chan.

"Let me do this one!" Izuku grinned, looking at Tomura.

"Fine, whatever." Tomura took out a small pouch, handing the stall operator the money. The operator gave Izuku three balls, all of them worn out and soft. He took ahold of one of them and threw it up in the air to catch. Izuku wanted to test the ball and what material it was made out of.

Izuku was about to mumble once more holding the ball in his hand and his other hand on his chin. "Alright so I only have three shots and to win a prize I have to hit everything down with no mistakes. That seems fine, I don't need my quirk to hit something with precision... But there's got to be some trick to this, obviously these games are rigged for everyone so I just need to figure out what the trick is going to be, but I don't have a test throw to figure it out so-"

A fist tapped the top of Izuku's green mop of hair. Tomura stared at him with dull, tired eyes. "Fucking just throw the ball." Izuku flushed with embarrassment and nodded his head. "O-Okay!"

Izuku stood in front of the stall, taking a deep breath before he aimed the ball, tossing it with his regular strength. WHAM! He hit the first monster! Okay cool, next ball. Izuku shifted to the left and aimed, tossing the ball and WHAPOW! Another direct hit! Now it was the last ball, final chance. Izuku took another deep breath, focusing on the target before him. He threw the ball, it was on the course to hit the final target. Izuku didn't notice the stall operator's grin, especially when the ball hit the back of the stall.

"Oh, too bad kid, here's a consolation prize." The stall operator handed him a lollipop. There was a yellow smiley face printed onto the wrapper. Izuku took it and frowned, looking at the stall and what had happened. Surely it was the operator's quirk that affected the ball in some way but it happened too quickly for Izuku to see. He couldn't really _prove_ that the stall operator had anything to do with it. Tomura; however, had caught wind of what was going on. He was watching Izuku the entire time and the ball had somehow gone off course from its intended path.

"Move." Tomura stepped up, pushing Izuku back. He handed more money to the stall operator, taking the balls with a few fingers. Izuku was rather perplexed. How would he throw the ball with only a few fingers? He never really saw Tomura do anything like that, so he was rather interested in how he would go about the game.

Tomura took ahold of the ball with all of his fingers. It disintegrated and fell into pieces of ash.

"HEY!" The operator looked at what was once his ball.

"Sorry, my bad." He took ahold of the other ball and tossed it really hard towards the monsters, the ball disintegrating before it could reach anything. The stall operator was getting angrier, stepping directly in front of the game.

"Listen kid, give me that ball, get the hell out of here-" Before he finished, Tomura tossed the ball at his face with only a few of his fingers.

"Whoops." Before Tomura could grin and challenge the stall operator, Izuku took ahold of his arm and dragged him away, turning the corner. Tomura was about to argue but saw Izuku holding the large stuffed cow in his arms. His brows furrowed, puzzled for a second as Izuku continued to peek over the corner to see if the stall operator was looking for them.

"Did you steal that?" Tomura asked, staring in the eyes of the sullen cow.

"Um, yeah! The booth was rigged anyways!" Izuku grinned, handing him the stuffed animal. "Here, I wanted to get it for you, it totally reminded me of you." He laughed, Tomura taking the plush cow with his wrists. He stared at it, frown mirroring the animal's.

"Fuck you." Tomura pressed his face into the cow's head, feeling the softness while hiding the smile that crept onto his pale face.

-  
The two had chosen not to do any of the stall games, seeing as they all were rigged one way or another. One stuffed animal was good enough, plus what the two of them really enjoyed was the arcade games. The fighting games were familiar, easy to play and good when it comes to two players. While Izuku was great at tactics, he couldn't beat Tomura when it came to anything virtual.

"Tomu-chan I don't think this is fair at all, you always win!" Izuku pouted, watching as the screen blacked out with the phrase "PLAYER TWO WINS" crawling from left to right. Tomura only shrugged.

"Fucking get better." That left Izuku with an even deeper pout.

"When was the last time we played an arcade game together?" Izuku tapped his chin, thinking back in his memory bank. Tomura stiffened up, knowing that he wouldn't have an answer to that since it's… never happened before.

"Shut up, stop being a sore loser let's play something else." Tomura reached up to scratch his neck before Izuku slapped his hand down.

"Want to play Dance Dance Revolution?" Izuku pointed, his face beaming.

"No." Tomura began moving to the opposite direction of the dance machine before Izuku tugged at his arm and pulled him towards it. Tomura kept his stance wide, keeping himself grounded. No. He did not want to play DDR.

Izuku continued to pull, coming to a standstill as Tomura was ready to slide onto the ground to prevent the other from dragging him. All of a sudden, Izuku had lifted Tomura by his midsection, carrying him over to the DDR machine. He placed the villain on the right side while he threw quarters into the machine. Tomura stood there frozen in place, the cow sitting in front next to the machine, as he stared at the song selection screen. He was ready to turn and walk the fuck away but saw Izuku bouncing up and down, stretching his legs on his side of the machine. If Tomura left him, who knows what stupid U.A student would show up and trigger some dumb fight in the middle of the arcade? It would be better if he stayed and watched at least, but there was NO way he'd be playing the dumb movement game.

A pop song was selected, electro beats pumped out of the machine as Izuku began moving his feet to the corresponding arrows. He looked to be on a higher difficulty with the amount of arrows flying up and down the screen Tomura, on his side, only had a few arrows moving from the bottom of the screen, all displaying "MISS" whenever it passed the top gauge.

"It's been forever since I've played this!" Izuku laughed, his face breaking out into a grin as he held onto the red bar behind him to hit all of the fast arrows. Tomura couldn't help but notice how much of an idiot the kid looked, but why was he smiling himself?

Tomura stared at the screen and slowly tapped a foot on the arrow when it was close to the top arrows. His "good" and "almost" weren't as impressive as Izuku's "perfect" and "marvelous." Tomura stopped moving his own feet to just watch Izuku move on the steel platform. He couldn't tell if the boy was using his quirk to power his legs up to catch the speed of the game, but either way it was something impressive. A few other arcade passersby had made their way over to watch the performance, leaving Tomura would a sense of anxiety on his stomach. Though they weren't looking at him, they were all staring at Izuku. The younger boy was taking the limelight, not what anyone had intended with the new dynamic. Sensei had given Izuku to him as a gift, an apprentice, a sidekick even, so why was he shining above him?

The anxiety in his stomach had churned into frustration and then detest. Why was everyone's eyes on him? He was nothing but a brainwashed kid who got himself kidnapped. He was pathetic, an idiot, something to be disposed. Tomura reached over to grab ahold of Izuku's arm with the full intent of using all his fingers. Right when he was about to wrap his fingers around the forearm, Izuku quickly stopped moving and took ahold of the man's wrist, keeping it off him.

"Are you okay, Tomu-chan?" Izuku had stopped everything he was doing, letting the game continue until it ends after too many misses. His green eyes are soft and full of concern, Tomura can't help but look away. Fuck. _Shit._ Every time Tomura looks at Izuku and his bright, green eyes he can't help but see something he's never seen before. He didn't know any words to describe it, but the feelings inside of him was something entirely new.

"Nothing, I'm tired. Let's go." Izuku didn't seem to be bothered by losing his game, only nodding and following Tomura outside. The crowd had dispersed by then but the anxiety was still simmering inside of Tomura's stomach. He headed out the arcade before realizing what he had left inside.

"Wait, fuck I left the dumb cow." Before Izuku could say anything, Tomura made a U-turn straight back into the arcade. He headed directly towards the DDR machine to come face to face with a small boy who had picked up the cow, looking victorious. Izuku followed behind and leaned down to the child.

"Hey there, we left our cow here, thanks for giving it back!" Izuku grinned, holding his hands out but the kid only grinned back and stuck out his tongue.

"No way! Finder's keeper!" The kid looked back at his other friends, all of them looking to be around the age of six.

"But it's our's, and if we could have it back now-"

"Get out of here stinkface!" Izuku blinked, looking at this young child who had such a potty mouth. He couldn't help but be reminded of a certain someone… someone he detested with all his being. His fists began to ball, teeth barring as they were pulled tightly.

"Listen kid…" Before Izuku could continue his thought, the child held up a hand and popping noises crackled at Izuku's face.

"Go away or I'll use my cool quirk on you!" The other boys behind the kid cheered him on, but something had snapped in Izuku. He quickly took ahold of the boy's wrist, pushing it down. The child let go of the stuffed cow and began to cry out.

"Listen here you brat you shut up right now or I'll snap this hand off." Izuku's face became dark, Tomura was more than surprised to see him act like this to a complete stranger, a child no less. A grin cracked onto his face as he watched the child shrink back in fear.

"You remind me of someone I hate, but I'm letting you know now that if you don't stop being a piece of shit someone's going to kill you." It looked like a promise, as Izuku had promised himself to kill Katsuki Bakugou long ago. The kid only nodded his head hurriedly and his wrist was freed. The boys quickly ran out of the arcade, screaming their heads off. Tomura almost thought he saw a puddle where one of the boys were standing at.

Izuku picked up the cow stuffed animal and handed it to Tomura before standing. "I'm feeling a bit tired myself, we should definitely get going." He gave the older boy a small smile, though his eyes looked sullen and dark. Tomura nodded and the two of them headed out of the arcade and towards the alley they both arrived at.

They walked in silence for a while, standing in the dark alley as the sun began to creep below the horizon. The two of them stared at it for a while before Izuku sudden spoke up.

"Thanks for taking me out today. I know I'm not allowed to anymore since I got caught, but I had a lot of fun." Izuku smiled softly, thought it looked strained. Tomura could only nod his head as he texted Kurogiri on his flip phone, the cow resting between his hip and other arm. The sun began falling underneath the ocean's line, bringing in the darkness of the night. The warp gate opened and the two of them walked in.

-

Izuku had always slept on the couch since their new hideout was a small, cramped room in between alleys. Something was different today, as there was an object on top of Izuku's face that was soft. Opening his eyes, he slowly lifted what was on top of his face off him, blinking. He came face to face with a stuffed sheep with wide eyes and matted wool. He blinked, squinting at it.

"It reminded me of you."

Turning his head, Izuku saw Tomura leaning over his cow plush on the other sofa playing an online game on his phone. Izuku could only grin, bringing the sheep toy under his arms and went back to sleep.


	7. The Dream

Inko Midoriya had moved into the dorms of U.A. Bakugou didn't know who made the executive decision but had a strong suspicion that All Might had some stance on it. He didn't mind either way, since he and his mother had constantly gone over to the Midoriya household when they had time. She was alone in the house, no husband, no son, nothing but herself and her lonely, dreary thoughts. On top of that, it seemed like the executives took into account that she was the only true link to Izuku Midoriya's memories. While the altered memories had recognized Bakugou, it was possible that he could've recognized his own mother as something… uncaring. It was a stretch of course, but if Izuku could build up so much rage and hatred towards Bakugou, who's to say that the altered memories didn't do the same to his own mother? No one told her that reasoning of course, but she was already more than happy to move in with the children.

The class was kind to her, always asking if she needed something and treated her with the upmost respect. Inko had nervously declined any help and offered her own assistance instead. She had cooked meals for the class and spent time mostly in the kitchen washing dishes. (She wouldn't let anyone else do them.) Most of the class grew concern that they were taking advantage of the woman but Bakugou understood she needed to keep herself busy.

She cried often. Often as in more than her own son's routine of crying. It became clear to see that the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree. Inko cried both in happiness and in sadness. No one blamed her for crying; after all, her son was forcibly turned into the one thing he sought to defeat.

The first time she had cried, Inko was sitting on the sofa late at night. Satou had snuck out of his room in order to grab some sugar ingredients for his room when he got caught by the mother. She had lectured him about eating after hours and the possibility of stomach aches but was intrigued by his quirk's properties when it came to sugar intake. Satou had apologized as Inko began laughing. Tears slowly fell down her cheek as she smiled through it.

Satou had told everyone the next morning that Inko had cried because he reminded her of a time Izuku had snuck into the kitchen to eat leftovers. She stressed that it was a happy memory and she was crying from the laughter. Satou had given her a warm embrace anyways, offering her cake.

Inko took his offer.

There were many other times she had cried, almost always related to Izuku in one way or another. Three times she had cried not related to her son:

The first, Iida had been talking to some classmates and Inko had walked over with a plate of snacks for the students. Iida's hand moved up too quickly and smacked the woman right in the face, causing her to drop the plate.

Needless to say, everyone was mad at the class president, including himself. Inko had reassured him that she was fine, her eyes just wells up easily. Iida was ready to jump off the balcony despite the mother trying to let him know that it was only an accident.

The second time she had burst into tears without the topic of her son was when Yaoyorozu made her a music box to decorate her guest room. Inko was amazed at the girl's quirk and the fact she had learned to make such an intricate object to gift her. This also caused an uproar in the class, finding it unfair that Yaoyorozu could create such a great present. After that, Inko's guest room was decorated with various trinkets and home décor the other students either bought or made for her. She cherished each and every one of the gifts she received from the students, making her cry again.

The third was a time only Bakugou saw and didn't say a word of it. It was past curfew and everyone had gone to bed. Only Bakugou and Todoroki were up during those hours, always training in secrecy either in their rooms or on the training field. The two never spoke to one another nor wanted to have any kind of joint training, so they avoided each other.

Bakugou walked back from the training field, muttering to himself on how often the hot-n'-cold bastard was always hogging it for himself. Both of their quirks required space to train, so the training arena outside of the dorms was the perfect place to hone the two student's quirks.

Sure, they could've both trained on the same field but neither of them wanted to interact with one another. The two had agreed to work together to save Deku, but that didn't mean they had to be friendly towards one another. Niceties were on neither of their plates.

As he walked back into the dorm building, Bakugou had heard small whimpering in the hall. He peeked his head around the corner to see All Might, the lanky form of him holding Inko Midoriya's hands and whispering things to her. Bakugou was concerned at first, fearing she had cried over Deku again but once he noticed her smile, he stopped himself from interfering. He kept this to himself, not wanting to share how he saw the two adults hold hands tightly like their lives depended on one another.

The mother settled in and the class grew quite fond of her after the first couple of weeks. She knew every single one of Class 1-A students' names and at least one or two fun facts about them.

"Everyone, please work hard today, always do your best!" Inko had nervously stuttered out as the students headed out the dorms, towards the main school building. She was always given hugs and promises in return, but Bakugou always felt bad whenever they had to leave her alone at the dormitory. She didn't have anyone to occupy her thoughts with, so that was probably the time when she thought about her son.

Usually Bakugou went straight back to the dorms after all classes were over, but today he had to meet someone. It took him while to figure out where the damn nerd was after classes but today he would finally be able to ask the questions he needs.

-  
"What do you want, Hero Course?"

The tired eyes gave a harsh edge that Bakugou countered with a glare of his own.

"Shut the fuck up and listen to me, this ain't about me okay? I wanted to talk about your damn quirk." He frowned deeply, the other boy, Hitoshi Shinsou, raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Why would you want to know about my quirk? Seems like you have better things to do than talk to us General Department kids." The boy sighed, reaching up the rub the back of his neck.

"Back in the Sports Festival, Deku- I mean," Bakugou grimaced. "Izuku Midoriya, the guy you were fighting in the tournament. How'd he overcome your quirk?" His voice grew low, Shinsou's eyes widened.

"Is this about his disappearance?" The tone in Shinsou's voice had also gotten low, the mood had gone serious.

"Shut up and answer my questions already! Don't try to-" Bakugou's words fell flat. His entire mind went hazy, like it was shrouded in fog. It began to lift and he exhaled loudly, gritting his teeth in annoyance. "Don't you DARE fucking do that again!" He reached over to grab the boy's collar, but Shinsou slapped his hand away.

"That's how it feels to be brainwashed by my quirk. Your mind is lost in this fog, you have your mind intact but your body will start obeying my command." He began explaining, sighing softly. "I don't know what this is about, but I have a feeling it's related to Midoriya's disappearance. Has he been brainwashed?"

Bakugou hesitated, knowing that only Class 1-A and the teachers knew all the details about Midoriya's disappearance and his transformation into a villain. He swallowed hard before nodding.

"You better keep your trap shut about this okay? We're just trying to figure some shit out." Bakugou's hands balled up into fists next to him.

"You must be desperate." Shinsou replied, leaning against the wall in the hallway. "You know that all quirks are different and my brainwashing is probably a different kind than whatever Midoriya is under."

Bakugou clenched his teeth, his fists shaking.

"I fucking KNOW that. But he broke out of your hold so maybe he can-" Bakugou's sentence dropped. His mind became hazy once more as he stared at the purple-haired boy with clouded eyes.

"Slap yourself." Shinsou commanded.

Bakugou's hand involuntarily went up, he struggled to keep his hand down but ultimately it slapped him right across the face. His mind cleared once again, the rage building inside of Bakugou as he took ahold of the other boy's shoulders and gripped hard.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID I SAY?!" His hands began to smoke, Shinsou staring at him dead in the eyes.

"That's what Midoriya had gone through. I don't know anything about how he could have gotten out of it, it's never happened before." Shinsou's sullen eyes looked from Bakugou to his hands that had its tight grip on his shoulders. Bakugou's teeth clenched tighter, threatening to break his own jaw.

"Then that means its possible right? He could get out of that brainwashing?" Bakugou let go, hands falling back to his side.

"I don't know. My quirk isn't the same as whatever that kid's under, but what he did has never happened to me before. He's a special case." Shinsou turned around and began walking away. "If anyone could get out of a bind, it's probably him. I don't want to give you false hope, but I believe he can break out of it." Shinsou left the school grounds, leaving Bakugou in the hallway.

Bakugou's heart began beating, mouth quivering. There was hope somewhere then. Time and time again, Deku had done something that surprised everyone, exceeding expectations.

"What the hell was that?"

Bakugou's head turned to face Todoroki, his own face falling into a grimace.

"What the fuck do you want?" He glared at Icey-Hot, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Telling people outside of our classroom about Midoriya? Don't you think that the police and teacher are already asking brainwash quirk users that kind of stuff? That guy doesn't know much but you're already blabbering out secrets." Todoroki's glare was cold. Bakugou's became fiery-hot.

"You think I can stand by and wait around for some police guy to figure something out? At least I'm trying to do something about it!" He spat back, keeping his balled fists in his pockets to prevent himself from lashing out at his classmate. "Don't tell me you haven't been doing some kind of research, everyone in class is. Fucking Yaoyorozu brought an entire library back from her fucking mansion to research this shit!"

Todoroki's frown fell deeper, the atmosphere grew cold.

"You're recklessly jeopardizing Midoriya's position. What if that General Education student went off to tell everyone that one of Class 1-A students have been brainwashed by villains? He's made it known that he resents us, so this is perfect leverage for him." The boy's voice grew louder, more fierce. Bakugou winced slightly, lowering his head.

"No, you dope! I know for a fact that shitty purple-haired loser isn't going to tell anyone." Bakugou glared back at Todoroki before turning around, heading out the building.

"And how do you know _that?"_ Todoroki called out, following him.

"Because when I talked to him, he got those fucking eyes when I mentioned Deku. Like, shit I don't fucking know how to describe it." Bakugou turned back to him. "It's the same eyes you fucking got, the kind that means Deku helped you out in some fucking way."

Todoroki stopped, eyes wide. Bakugou sneered, that must've shut him up.

"By the way, I'M TAKING THE TRAINING FIELD TONIGHT! DON'T SHOW UP, BASTARD." Bakugou screamed out before walking out of the school.

-  
Just like he expected, Todoroki did not show up to the training field that night. Perfect. Bakugou walked out into the field and took deep breaths, aiming his hands out. There was plenty of things he needed to work on. Maneuvering with his explosions to be as accurate and quick as he can, also he needed to work on condensing the trajectory of his blows in order to create a single, powerful shot. It was a special move he had been working hard on, and now he was able to work upon it in the training field.

 _Focus._

 _Put all the power on the tip of my fingers, don't activate the palm. Focus._

Before he could release the explosive energy stored up, Bakugou heard footsteps approach. He swung his hands towards the invader with threatening reflexes, only to come face to face with Inko.

"I-I-It's just me!" The mother squealed out, tears welling up in her eyes. Bakugou quickly put his hands down.

"Shit I'm sorry- I mean fuck, wait, shit sorry, you shouldn't have snuck up on me!" He tried to apologize for nearly blowing the woman's head off, and then for the cursing but ended up yelling at her instead.

"I'm sorry Katsuki! I should've said something, but then again you really shouldn't be out here past curfew!" Her face turned stern, her tears drying. Bakugou was sure the woman would've burst into tears but he misjudged the motherly instincts that overrides fear.

"I'm just training, you don't have to worry about me. I need to get stronger." Bakugou turned to look at his hands. Deku had pierced knives through his palms, and though it was healed up, the phantom pain acted up whenever he thought about it. Inko only stared at his hands and placed her own on top of one of them.

"Katsuki, I know you're working hard for Izuku, but if you push yourself you're not going to be able to do anything! Please get some rest." Her eyes looked tired, it didn't look like Inko got much sleep at night either.

Bakugou looked back to the training arena. He _just_ got a chance to use the training field for the night, so should've been able to spend the limited time working on his special move. But… Inko's face looked too concerned, too _motherly_ to refuse her request. He gritted his teeth looking away from her.

"I know you want to get stronger, you and Izuku are so alike you know?" _Shit._ Bakugou turned to face her, seeing her eyes well up once more. He quickly took ahold of her hands.

"And I will! I'm going to become stronger and save him! You got that? I made you a promise!"

Inko gave the boy a small smile, wiping her tears with a sleeve. "I know you will, but you need to not push yourself okay? Get some rest, _please._ " Bakugou took another look at the mother's face and then nodded.

"Okay I will."

"You've been up every night for the last days, will you stop writing for one second and sleep?" A sofa cushion was thrown at Izuku's face.

"ACK, I'm almost done don't worry!" The young boy picked up the cushion and tossed it back at Tomura who was sprawled across the other sofa perpendicular to the table Izuku was writing at.

Tomura allowed the cushion to hit his legs, humming thoughtfully. He swung his feet over the arm rest and reached over, snatching the notebook from Izuku's desk with four fingers.

"Hey!" Izuku reached to grab back his notebook, only to be threatened by the last finger coming down.

"I can't fucking go to sleep with you tapping your pencil constantly. I'm tired so go to sleep." Tomura flung the notebook back at Izuku who scrambled to catch it. He sighed in relief when he had his notes in his hands, placing it down on the table. Looking over at Tomura, Izuku stood up from his seat.

Walking over to the other sofa, Izuku sighed and fell onto it, letting his face fall into the stuffed sheep plush.

"Fine I'll go to sleep…" Izuku didn't realize how tired he actually was until he closed his eyes and drifted off.

-  
Bakugou blinked.

He was in his hero costume, standing in a hallway that looked oddly familiar. He took a few steps and realized where he was. The dark metallic hallway led to an opening of a floor, rubble and debris scattered about. He was back in Ground Beta, where Class 1-A had their first hero training class.

It took a few seconds of staring at the open wall to realize he was dreaming. Well, at least that's what he thought it was. Bakugou doesn't usually dream, and he definitely doesn't remember what happens vividly. He felt like he was actually there, standing on Ground Beta where he once fought Deku for the first time after being accepted into U.A.

Maybe it wasn't a dream, maybe this was somebody's quirk at play. Bakugou got himself ready, holding his gauntlets up as he scanned the area. Rushing footsteps alerted Bakugou and he turned towards the entrance of the floor.

He froze.

Izuku Midoriya stood there, out of breath in his original hero costume.

"Kacchan-!" He cried out, breaking out into a watery smile as he took a step closer to him. Bakugou quickly held an arm up, readying his gauntlet. Sweat rolled down his face as he screamed out.

"STAY THERE DEKU!" Even if it was just a one-on-one, Bakugou would be able to defeat Deku and take him back to U.A. He had to be clever, on the top of his game for a fight like this.

"Wait Kacchan I-" In a split second, Bakugou was using his other hand to propel himself towards the boy. He quickly used the momentum to spin his leg up, crashing it down on Deku's shoulder. He fell down onto the ground, gasping out as Bakugou grabbed his jumpsuit.

With one hand on Deku's back, the other holding his jumpsuit, Bakugou took in deep breaths, shaking ever so slightly. The boy underneath him struggled.

"Seriously get off me… I'm not trying to fight you, I don't even think this is real!" Deku yelled out.

Bakugou hesitated. It was strange, that was certain. There was no way they could've made it to Ground Beta without realizing something beforehand.

"The last thing I remember is going to sleep. I… I remember everything."

"…What?" Bakugou got off him, keeping his grip on Deku's jumpsuit as he slowly got himself up.

Deku coughed and started stretching his shoulders, rubbing it with a gloved hand. Bakugou stared at him, looking to see if there was any indication of whether or not this was an imposter before him. His brows furrowed, grip tightening.

"What the fuck is this Deku?" He growled, shaking the boy ever so slightly.

"Hey quit it, let go!" Deku pulled himself away from Bakugou and huffed, staring at him. His large eyes didn't seem as clouded or tired as the times he faced him after the villains had forced him into their league. His eyes were confused, yet determined.

"Better start giving me some explanations before I blow your god damn head off!" Bakugou hissed.

"I don't know what this is! I just know that I was asleep before this, so I think this might be a dream." Deku rubbed his head, then pinching his arm.

"I just went to sleep too, and I know I'm here so I'm probably the one dreaming and you're just my god damn imagination." Bakugou hissed, turning away. "I should've stayed away and trained. At least that would've been more useful than just dreaming about your sorry ass."

Deku walked towards him, grabbing his arm.

"No, I don't think just one of us is dreaming, I think we're both dreaming. Together? I think…" Izuku rubbed his chin, lost in thought. "I think we're both here through a shared memory. We're back in Ground Beta right? That's where we first fought officially as classmates." Deku turned to look at the debris.

"Shared memory? What the fuck are you talking about?" Bakugou turned back to glare down the smaller boy.

"I… I wasn't brainwashed. My memories were altered." Deku explained, his voice soft. Bakugou stared at him, walking back towards the boy. "I remember what happened, so I think my actual self is buried underneath all the false implants. It's just a theory but I think that we're both here through a shared memory, and in some weird way we got connected." Deku looked back up to Bakugou whose eyes were wide open.

"That's the dumbest thing I ever heard, but I don't think I could ever make up such a lame explanation. So I guess you're not just a dream version I whipped up." Bakugou's voice was low as well, his darkened stare lifted.

"I don't know if that's right, but it's just a theory. If my memories were altered, I wouldn't be able to remember this place. But I'm here now which means that I'm trying to reach them. Could it be, maybe it's…" Deku turned around to look at the surroundings, Bakugou followed his gaze. In the entrance way was shadows, eight sets of eyes loomed inside of corridor.

"It's just like during the sports festival…" Deku muttered. Bakugou turned back and pointed at the entrance, reading his hands.

"What the fuck is that shit?!" He moved onto offense.

"You can see them too?" Deku scrambled to move Bakugou's hand down. The shadows stayed still at the entrance, not moving.

"Is that your One for All shit? With all the people or something?" Bakugou frowned. What kind of all mighty quirk is it if they can't help out their current wielder?

"W-What? You know about One for All?" Deku gasped, fear appearing on his face.

"Yeah, All Might told me _and_ your mom." He glared at the shadows in the hallway and turned back to Deku whose face went white.

"My mom…? Oh my god my mom, is she? Is she okay?" Deku's eyes began to well, Bakugou felt something tug at his heartstrings.

"She's fine. She moved into the dorms with us so we're all taking care of her. Or I guess she's taking care of us." Bakugou explained, stretching out his arms as he turned back to stare at the glowing eyes. Deku sighed in relief.

"I'm so glad. Thank you, Kacchan, for looking after her." He sniffed softly, rubbing his face.

Bakugou definitely couldn't be dreaming, he began to realize at this point, this "Deku" was nothing he could've imagined up for himself. This was the real deal.

"So what you're saying is that we happened to fall asleep around the same time and we got transported to here?" Bakugou frowned, not liking his explanation at all. It sounded fake, something that only happens in the comics or movies.

"Yeah… I think it's because One for All is trying to help me, and the only way they could was through my old memories." Deku shook his head. "Listen, Kacchan, if this is a dream or a vision or whatever then I have to tell you something!"

Bakugou's mouth twitched. He still wasn't happy at all about what was transpiring but if this was the real Deku asking for help, it was something he had to listen to.

"They've altered my memories, but right now I remember everything, even what's happening with me and the villains! I'm making a strategy, but I'm not finished. I just know that the villains," Deku gulped. "And me, are going to try and take all of Class 1-A down."

Deku's eyes watered while Bakugou's widened.

"Do you know when? Or how?"

Tears began rolling down Deku's cheeks, his hands clenched into fists, pulling at his jumpsuit. "I don't know when, but I know that it's going to involve nomus and using all your quirks' weaknesses, maybe even pitting all of you against each other. Similar to how final exam was, we're going to try to spread everyone out and pair people with the least compatibility." He shook his head, Deku began to tremble.

"I-I'm so sorry… I was weak, I couldn't snap out of their hold and now I'm helping them hurt all of you!" Tears fell from his face, the pain in his chest grew as Deku fell to his knees in front of Bakugou. "If-If I had known they would use me against all of you, I would've tried to let them kill me first-"

Bakugou took ahold of the jumpsuit once more, bringing Deku up to force him to look.

"Shut up! You're not weak you got that? So what if you got manipulated or whatever! We're going to get you back!" The fire in Bakugou's eyes were apparent, Deku stared at him as more tears slowly slid down his cheek. "You listen up nerd and you listen good. Even if it takes me the rest of my god damn life I'm going to rescue you, got that?" Determination rose, though Bakugou began trembling himself.

"It's my fucking fault this is happening. So I swear, I'm going to save you." The sincerity in his voice was something Deku had never heard before, it was almost too foreign for him to take seriously. Bits of pieces began to click in Deku's mind, causing him to share a shaky smile.

"Right, you're right Kacchan." Deku used his shoulder to wipe his tears away.

"Fucking cry baby." Bakugou let go of the jumpsuit, turning away to not show his own glistening eyes.

"Kacchan, I'm leaving it to you okay? I don't know when the next time we can meet like this is, but if I never see you again until I'm rescued then, well, I'm counting on you." Deku stepped back, taking a deep breath and smiled brightly at Bakugou. The boy scoffed, returning with a smirk of his own.

"Just wait, you'll be back to your dumb, annoying brat self in no time."

Deku muttered a thank you, smiling through his teary eyes.

-  
Bakugou shot up from his bed, sweat clinging to his skin as threw off his blanket. He looked at his balcony door, seeing the sun slowly peeking up over the horizon. Taking a second, Bakugou tried to recall everything. To his surprise, it was as vivid as could be. He remembered everything.

Throwing himself out of his bed, he raced out of his room and into the hall. He had to tell All Might, his classmates even. The real Deku was still inside, buried deep down in all of the altered memories. He reached out! He was fighting back!

There was hope.

-  
Izuku woke up abruptly. He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and back, but dismissed it as the usual soreness he got from sleeping on a sofa. It was another dreamless night, or at least nothing he remembered. Sitting up in his makeshift couch bed, he yawned. Reaching up to rub his eyes, he was surprised to find that there were tears in them.


	8. Training and Bonds

The first person Bakugou told about the dream was All Might. It was only fitting, since he might have more insight on what had transpired and if One for All was playing any part in keeping Izuku from losing himself. He caught the man in the hallway on the way to the teacher's longue. It was still early, too early for any student to be out and about – on top of that, Bakugou's face had looked too serious and almost _desperate_ for All Might to give any second thoughts.

The previous number one hero sat Bakugou down in the teacher's longue sofa and made him some green tea. All Might sat down in front of him, listening to the boy's explanation on what had occurred during the night. During the _dream._

"My boy, are you certain it was young Midoriya?" All Might's face looked _too_ serious, almost grim.

"I swear to you it was! There's no way I could've imagined up a dumb explanation like that. On top of that, I think I saw the other users of One for All." Bakugou added, gripping the cup of tea in his hands. "There was eight people, hidden in the hallway. I could see their eyes but not their bodies. One of them… I think looked like you."

All Might leaned back on his chair, hands folded on his lap. He took a deep breath.

"There's no doubt about it then, that was One for All. You described it almost exactly the same way Young Midoriya had before." The retired hero leaned in, looking directly in Bakugou's eyes. "Young Bakugou, you've found out something incredibly important. Not only do we know Midoriya is still inside his trapped memories, but we know a bit of their plan and can prepare accordingly."

Hearing it from All Might made Bakugou's lip quiver. The sense of relief he was feeling in that moment was unimaginable, not something you could measure or describe with words. In the back of his mind, Bakugou was afraid that his dream was nothing more than just that – not a vision or a plea for help. Now that he's explained it to All Might, the burden was slowly falling off his shoulders.

"We should tell Aizawa-sensei, and everyone else!" Bakugou got up from his seat, nearly dropping his cup of green tea. All Might nodded his head getting up as well and checking the time of the wall clock.

"It's nearly time for everyone to get up anyways, we can wake them up early and have a class meeting. Let's go, Young Bakugou." All Might held an arm out for Bakugou, patting his back as he walked over. The boy felt a tremendous amount of emotion wave past him, forming into tears in his eyes. He quickly took an arm and rubbed them away. That fucking Deku was getting to him.

-  
All Might and Aizawa had presented the situation to everyone in the common area. The entire class had gathered, either sitting on the sofas or standing. Inko Midoriya was sitting down as well, listening in as she handed the students some orange uice. Bakugou scanned over messy hair and tired faces to see their reactions as the dream was described. His face reddened with embarrassment, as there wasn't any other time a teacher of his would be describing his dream to his fellow classmates. In theory it sounded like a dumb prank, but the severity of the situation was not meant with any laughter or mockery. Those tired eyes amongst the students brightened, fueled by hope.

"So Deku can be saved, he's not forever brainwashed?" Uraraka cried out, her own eyes welling up.

"He wasn't brainwashed, Midoriya described it as memory alteration. Perhaps an illusion-type quirk." Yayoyorozu had interjected while tying up her hair.

"To be trapped inside one's own mind, watching your body act on motives that are not your own… how awful." Tokoyami crossed his arms and furrowed, closing his eyes.

The chattering amongst students began to peak, irritating their sensei. He only allowed it for a while longer, before raising his voice.

"Listen. With this new information we've also discovered that the villains are planning on taking you all down. This won't be the same as the USJ attack, nor the attack during summer training. We're _all_ being targeted. The villains know all of our quirks, and even weaknesses at this point. On top of that, they technically have one of our own as hostage. Even if they plan to use him against us, there's no telling when they'll dispose of Midoriya." The class grew silent.

"It's not easy to say this, but if push comes to shove they'll probably kill Midoriya if they find themselves back in a corner." Aizawa frowned deeply, his hands balling into fists beside him. The atmosphere amongst the students became deadly – fearful.

"That's why we're going to have to train the hardest we've ever had to. I was planning on making you all take the hero license exam so each one of you would be able to use your quirks outside of school, but considering our circumstances it might be too risky to pursue that right now. Once we finish this meeting, we'll have to talk to Principal Nedzu and the police force. It's more than likely that they'll have more guards surrounding us and a tighter schedule. They might even try to convince us to not get involved," A few words of frustration had sprung. " _However,_ I as your class homeroom teacher give you all permission to use your quirks outside of class. I will take full responsibility, even if it costs me my teacher job or hero license."

"But Sensei-" Ashido had started but was met with Aizawa raising a hand.

"In my heart, I believe it is all of you that will rescue Midoriya. The bonds in this class are strong, I have never seen another group of first years that show so much vigor and determination than all of you." Aizawa had closed his eyes, the class stunned.

"With that being said, you all need to put forth more than just your best. Go beyond, plus-"

"PLUS ULTRA!" The class erupted. Even Inko had held a fist up to the sky with determination in her eyes. Aizawa scoffed, smirking gently.

"Right, now you can all return back to-" Aizawa was sudden attacked by a few of his students, all pulling him and All Might into a hug.

"SENSEI! That was so sweet of you!" Hagakure cried out. Other students had piled into the group hug until only Bakugou remained. Even Todoroki had been pulled in by Iida, though it didn't seem like he wanted to pull away at the moment. Bakugou frowned deeply, unsure on how to handle all of this until Sero and Kirishima looked at him.

"C'MERE BAKUGOU!" Sero yelled out, using his tape to pull the boy into the group hug. Kirishima wrangled Bakugou's shoulders with his arm, pulling him into the entire class hug. He grumbled loudly, muttering curses but finally gave him. He held his arms out, placing them on Sero and Kirishima's back as he kept his head low, listening to Aizawa's yells of complains and All Might's laughter.

-  
Bakugou had tried sleeping at the same time as the night before in order to meet up with Deku, at least just once more. Maybe he'd have more information about the possible attack, but every time he tried to go to sleep it never came to another meeting. He tried falling asleep at different times but still led to no other meetings. He started to believe that the next time he'd see Deku was during the attack.

The class had been given orders to always stay together, at least in groups of two or three to be safe. Each student had formed their own little buddy systems and began training with each other either during hero practice and even in their own free time. With the warning that the attack was going to try to separate everyone by quirk and weaknesses, the students of Class 1-A had all worked on picking up their endurance as well as figuring out possible counters to any outcome.

It was interesting to see different pairings form as a result. Bakugou saw Asui talking with Todoroki about how she faired in fire, and asked for his help creating a simulation where she would figure out how to work in flames. Aoyama and Uraraka had planned a competition amongst each other to work on their quirk limits. Whoever would get a stomachache/nauseous first would have to make the other person dinner for the day. Students all went to Ojiro for martial arts training, and others went to Yaoyorozu to get her to create some training dummies as well. Even Kaminari had gone to the support class and asked for some tech that could help him regulate the direction of his electricity.

Everyone was working to push their limits, to break their current weaknesses in order to save Izuku Midoriya. Even when the nerd wasn't around, he was still uniting the class in some way or another. The entire class was kicked into gear, training like the attack could happen at any moment – they had to be ready for it.

Bakugou continued to spar with Kirishima, as the latter had confronted him and begged for some one-on-one sparring in order to work on being able to last in a drawn out fight. Of course, Bakugou had no problem using the hardening quirk to his own advantages as well, it was a good pair.

"Better than the Sports Festival fight yeah?" Kirishima grinned, aiming more punches at Bakugou's face. He dodged them quickly, moving to counter with his arms. He tried to land an explosion on Kirishima's side but the other boy hardened his skin so it had no effect.

"Yeah, but you're probably going to last only an extra minute!" Bakugou spun on his heel, kicking up his other leg to land a hit at the side of Kirishima's head. The red-haired boy hardened his face, moving to grip at Bakugou's ankle. Once Bakugou felt the boy's hold, he used his palms to explode himself off the ground, flipping himself over and using the moment of his leg to bring Kirishima up and slammed him to the ground.

Kirishima landed with a grunt, flat on his back. He quickly sat up, holding onto his head before stumbling up. "I'm not down yet!" Bakugou grinned widely, turning around to throw an explosion at him. Kirishima quickly dodged it, bringing his arms up to lock Bakugou's arm. He turned on his heel right after, throwing Bakugou to the side. The blonde quickly readjusted his weight so that he could land on his feet, using a hand to the ground to stop his momentum. He grinned up at Kirishima.

"Guess you went past an extra minute! Let's finish this!" Bakugou charged at Kirishima who in return began running towards Bakugou, yelling out. Before the two could meet in the middle of the sparring field, a loud explosion that was heading their way caught their attention.

"YO LOOK OUT!" Kirishima called out, kicking himself in gear and launched himself to pull Bakugou onto the ground, away from the explosion. The two of them coughed, the dirt from the ground shifting into puffs of brown clouds around them. They quickly got up, readying themselves. Was it the time? Were the villains here?

"KIRISHIMA! BAKUGOU!" Iida ran towards them, an arm up in his signature robotic fashion. "SO SORRY, Yaoyorozu is working on creating new types of cannons and explosions with her quirk! We've also been learning to dodge the speed and I accidentally kicked one of the explosions over here! Is anyone hurt?!"

Bakugou shoved Kirishima off him, standing up and then grabbed the hardened boy by the air and hoisted him onto his feet.

"We're fucking fine, better watch it four eyes, anyone else other than us and we would've been blown up." Bakugou had an ugly look on his face but Kirishima was staring at him with glimmering eyes.

"Oh my god Iida did you hear that? He basically said I was strong!" Kirishima held onto his face, Iida bowing his head deeply.

"AGAIN, apologies!" Iida moved up from his bow and then bowed once more. Then again. Then he got up and left back to the group he was training with.

Bakugou huffed, turning to see Kirishima still oggling at him. "What the fuck do you want hairs-for-brains?!" He screamed, trying to slam his hand against the boy's face to make an explosion. Kirishima ducked, dodging the attack but kept his smiling face of admiration and pride on his face.

"You think I'm getting better?" Kirishima batted his eyelashes. It was met with a huff from Bakugou and his other hand throwing down onto Kirishima's face.

"Of course you idiot! Everyone here's working their asses off, you got me off guard for a second too so I _guess_ you're improving." Bakugou pushed Kirishima's face away from him, shoving his hands into his pockets after.

"Right on! At this rate, we'll get back Midoriya for sure!" Kirishima threw a fist into the air, grinning brightly. Bakugou turned away, but he wasn't angry or upset about Kirishima's exclamation. It was true; the entire Class 1-A was improving themselves at such an incredible speed. Not only had that, but they all done so while _bonding._ It was true what Aizawa-sensei had said about the class. They were strong but they were strongest together. It was cheesy for sure, Bakugou would never admit it but he felt a part of the class's strength.

The sound of wheels were heard coming towards them. Inko Midoriya had a small trolley of water bottles behind her, but she wasn't pushing it. Instead, she was pulling the trolley with her quirk – even she was working hard to exercise her own powers and exceed past her limits. It didn't seem like she was having too much trouble, but the trolley moved at a slower pace than normal.

"Hi boys, here take some water bottles!" She pulled the water bottles from the trolley towards her, taking ahold of them and handed them to Bakugou and Kirishima.

"Thank you, Mrs. Midoriya!" Kirishima bowed his head and took the water bottle, opening it and began chugging.

Bakugou took the water bottle and nodded at her, feeling a bit relaxed seeing the mother work so hard. He noted that she hadn't cried in a while, not even when they discussed the dream Bakugou had, nor did she ask about it afterwards. Instead, it looked like she was given a new set of motivation and drive, visible physically and through her work ethics.

Inko didn't want to stand aside anymore, not wanting to worry or fret like she had done before. Instead, she sought to be of use to the people that were going to help save her son. Bakugou always knew her as a fiercely protective and loving mother. Whenever he was over at the Midoriya's as a child, she loved to pick up her son and fly him around, showering him with kisses. A mother's love could reach even the stars and was more powerful than any quirk, at least that's what it seemed to Bakugou in that moment. It only strengthened his desire to fulfill the promise he made to her.

Toshinori Yagi walked into the high tech prison hallway with two guards behind him. He had wanted to come sooner, but with the situation happening with Izuku Midoriya and Class 1-A, it was nearly impossible to make time or set aside the emotions that were still reeling inside him. After confiding in Gran Torino, Toshinori felt like he was resolved enough to confront All for One. He had to find out, even if it would be difficult – he needed to know how to save young Midoriya.

He sat in a chair, wearing one of his All Might hero outfits despite the size being too big for his true form. In front of him was a glass wall and beyond that was All for One, strapped against a chair. Next to the chair was tubes and bars that kept him alive. Bright lights illuminated the room, but it felt a lot darker of an atmosphere.

"This place, All Might," One for All began, knowing that the retired hero was sitting in front of him. "It's quite stiff. Let's say I have an itch on my back, if I were to move to scratch it, the guns will point at me. My vitals, my brain waves, all monitored at all times. If you so much as think about activating your quirk, their hands will already be gripped around your throat." Toshinori didn't budge, he didn't care for small talk at the moment.

"They modeled it after a Greek legend, they call it Tartarus. It is the name of the God of Hell. Quite fitting that the fate of those who betray the gods have befallen me."

Toshinori's gaze pierced through the wall, despite the man before him being unable to see.

"What kind of quirk did you use on Young Midoriya?" He wanted to get straight to the point, he wasn't there for idle chit chat.

"Of course you'd be here to ask me that, but what about young Tomura? After all, he is the blood relative of your dear master. My successor, and your's, working in tandem. Quite troubling is it not? I could only imagine how you must be feeling!"

Toshinori kept his composure, even if the villain was the grandson of his master, none of that matter! What was more important was Izuku Midoriya.

"You plan to have your successor kill both the boy and I," Toshinori started, recalling what Gran Torino told him. _You are no longer capable of seeing him as a villain. You would be at a complete loss. No matter what his lineage is, at the end of the day he's still a criminal._ It was true, he was almost blinded by the fact that he could be harming his master's kin, but everything changed once young Midoriya became involved. Tomura Shigaraki might've been his master's grandson, but he himself had become a mentor to Midoriya and he was first priority. "If that's the case then I hope you enjoy rotting in here for the rest of your life. I will not die. Now I'll ask you again, I came here for the sole purpose of saving Young Midoriya. What did you do to him?"

All for One chuckled. He almost looked like he was grinning behind the bandages. "You've lost, All Might. Even if you survive, that boy will never be the same. I haven't had a proper conversation in years, so I might just indulge you on some hints."

Toshinori frowned.

"We know that you've used a memory altering quirk. Just what did you alter?" He asked, taking a deep breath to keep his composure.

"Ah, so you found out that much? Interesting. I didn't change much actually, you see, children can be quite cruel." All for One chuckled again. "I saw his memories, so I know about how you two met. Did you know, right before then, a certain classmate of his had said some rather harsh things? If it wasn't for that boy, honestly it would've taken me more work to piece together a new path."

Toshinori felt his chest tightened. Was he talking about Young Bakugou?

"I'll keep it simple, that young boy with the explosions had told our little Midoriya to kill himself. I went from there, you already told him that he couldn't be a hero, so I just made it so he did jump. Brilliant isn't it?" Toshinori swallowed hard. He knew that Midoriya and Bakugou had a long rivalry, but to hear exactly what Midoriya had gone through was too much to bear. Children were awful… but Katsuki Bakugou had grown tremendously. He knew that the boy regretted his actions and was working past his limits to save Midoriya.

"It's a simple memory altering quirk I've stolen a long time ago, but that's not the only quirk I used on him." All for One used the information like bait on a string, Toshinori could only listen, wondering if what the villain was saying was false, just a way to get him on the edge of his seat.

"…What is it?" Toshinori gritted his teeth.

"What, no please?" At that, Toshinori got up, moving to leave.

"I don't have time for this, you're bluffing regardless. Have fun rotting in here forever." Before Toshinori could step away, All for One quickly interjected.

"Wait wait! I have more to say!" The villain wanted to get his plan out, he wanted to hear Toshinori's shock. "I'll tell you what it is."

Toshinori turned back around, readying himself.

-  
About half the class were sitting in the common rooms, either playing card games or just talking. The other half of the students were in the kitchen grabbing snacks and choosing movies. They all had made a consensus to have a night off of training and have something similar to a movie/game night. Most of the girls had all convinced Satou to bake something for the night, and he presented everyone with a scrumptious sponge cake. Everyone had gotten a piece for the night, and while Bakugou wasn't one to eat sweets, it wasn't half-bad.

Bakugou watched as Todoroki, teamed up with Iida, face off against Denki who was teamed up with Kouda, in a game of charades. Iida's wild hand gestures had confused Icey-Hot, who couldn't decipher which hand movements were a part of the hints and which ones were just Iida being himself. Kouda on the other hand, was pretty good at charades. It was the electric dummy that wasn't able to decipher the well-thought out clues given to him.

Jirou had brought out an acoustic guitar and was showing Tokoyami and Sero the chords to an easy song. She strummed a few of the chords for them, bobbing her head to the tune.

Other classmates were talking and eating cakes, someone had finally decided on what movie for them to watch. Hagakure and Ashido both voted on watching a classic Disney movie and moved to put it in.

Before they could put the movie in, all the lights had gone out. Everyone's first response was to look at Kaminari but once he faced his classmates with a serious face, they all got up. The emergency lights started flashing red against the walls.

"INTRUDERS ON CAMPUS. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. INTRUDERS ON CAMPUS."

Iida was the first to raise his arm.

"Class 1-A! We have intruders on the campus and they're most likely the villains! Prepare yourselves, stay in groups!" Iida looked over to his classmates. "First, we need to make sure Mrs. Midoriya is safe!"

Satou and Shouji had both paired up to go check on Inko in her room. The rest of the class headed towards the front to see the commotion that was brought into the U.A campus. Bakugou raced through the gates, stopping when they saw a lone person walking through the pathway, security guard bodies on the floor.

From the looks of it, they were only pinned down and not dead. Despite it being the night time, Bakugou was able to see that the security personnel were all being held down by knives. The class came to a halt, watching as Izuku Midoriya walked towards them, a knife in one hand and a notebook in the other.

"Hm, looks like not everyone's accounted for, but that's fine." Bakugou glared. It seemed like he was right in thinking the next time he'd see Deku was during the attack, and there he was. Before Deku could take another step, Sero and Mineta had moved into action.

Purple orbs were thrown near Deku's feet, causing the villain to move in order to dodge them. Sero had used his tape to catch him as he jumped into the air, wrapping around him tightly and began pulling.

"You're in our territory now! C'mon let's get you back here with us!" Sero yelled out, pulling at his tape.

A warp gate formed behind Deku, absorbing him as the tape began being pulled from inside the warp gate. Sero nearly jerked forwards before Kirishima sliced the tape off him with his hardened skin.

Another warp gate appeared behind the class. Students that were closer to the gate quickly faced it, while the other classmates kept their eyes peeling all around them. The entire class moved closer to each other, getting ready as two more warp gates on each side of the first gate appeared.

Deku emerged out of the middle, his notebook tucked under his arm.

"We might be in your territory now, but I think you'll find that we have the upper hand." Behind him emerged out Tomura Shigaraki, then the villain responsible for the warp gates. Out of the other portals came out various nomus, reaching to at least six in all. Other villains emerged from the warp gate alongside the monsters. The class prepared themselves as the villains approached. They had trained their hardest for this moment.

Bakugou stared down Deku, who in return grinned at him.

"Kacchan, I've been waiting for this for a long time." He started walking towards the class, though his sights were only on Bakugou. Tomura took ahold of his shoulder with a finger up. He whispered something to him, leaving Deku with a frown. Bakugou noticed the clenched fists and the way he receded back behind the villains with the hands.

The nomus charged towards the students as warp portals were being placed around the areas. The villains were planning on splitting everyone up, at least that's what it looked like to Class 1-A. They kept to their assigned pairings and groups, getting ready to face the nomus.

Bakugou kept his sights on Deku, while the other did the same. This was it.

He was going to save Izuku Midoriya.


	9. Deku vs Kacchan

No one knew how long it had been since the fight started. Could've been minutes, maybe hours or just mere seconds since the alarms had begun blasting. The class was at an advantage, as the villains had done their research beforehand and knew every single one of the student's quirks and weaknesses. As for the newcomer villains, nothing was known about their power. It would be difficult, but it wasn't like the class hadn't been in some dire predicament before. There was a joint goal at hand, they actually didn't have to defeat any of the villains really. The real objective was to rescue Deku and once they did that, everyone could retreat.

Some of the students stuck to their pairs and allowed the warp gates to transport them somewhere. Most pairs and groups had tried to avoid the altogether, refusing the warp gate villain to scattered them before like what had happened during the USJ incident.

The class had gone through the most rigorous training and had experience prior, so this attack? Just another day at U.A. Of course it was still frightening to everyone, especially since no teachers were there at the moment to assist, but with fear came the desire to combat it. It was essential to every hero to know that fear was a part of what made them stronger. Even Bakugou, who stood there at the ready, his eyes fixated on the green-haired boy that stared back.

He was scared.

Never would Bakugou have admitted something like that, but it wasn't the fear of dying that he had – Bakugou feared losing Izuku Midoriya. The result of this fight would end up in one or two ways, either Deku would be rescued and returned of Bakugou would die trying. There was no way that the villains would try to retreat and regroup again, this was their final push to destroy U.A's students, they couldn't afford to try again and again, not with their limited resources and their tantrum toddler of upper management.

It was do or die, now or never.

Bakugou kept his eyes locked on Deku who only furrowed his brows and grit his teeth back in response. Tomura Shigaraki kept one hand on the boy's shoulder with a pinky up, holding him back. Bakugou noticed that the hands freak was muttering things behind the hand that fastened itself to the creep's face. Deku only nodded in response, taking a few steps back. What? Was he not going to fight? Bakugou grit his teeth and took a few heavy steps forward.

"WHAT?! NOT GOING TO FIGHT ME?! I thought this is what you wanted! C'mon Deku just TRY and kill me!" He screamed out, the others watching Bakugou as he carefully kept his distance despite the threat. He could see Deku's mouth pulling and his fists clenching, but the other villain kept him at bay.

Before Bakugou could send another round of taunting insults, a nomu began racing towards them with such speed it was almost a miracle that Bakugou saw it in his peripheral. He jumped back, dodging the nomu's charge while keeping his eyes back onto Deku and the villains surrounding him. There was no way he was going to let him escape, not again.

Kirishima moved forward to throw a hardened punch at the nomu, keeping himself close to Bakugou. The nomu's speed was far too great, avoiding the attack and began barreling towards Kirishima. Breaking his gaze, Bakugou moved and projected himself with his explosions to grab ahold of Kirishima's arm, pulling him back from the attack.

"Thanks bro! Let's get rid of this monster first, it's way too fast!" The red head hardened both his arms, getting himself ready for any other charged attacks. Bakugou quickly scanned behind him, seeing that the remaining students that were around were Sero, Ojiro, Iida, and Todoroki. Behind them there were other classmates who had begun fighting with various other nomus and villains. He couldn't check for too long but he had faith in every single one of his classmates that they'd be alright. Everyone had each other's back, they would be fine.

"Please allow us to take care of this nomu." Iida stepped up alongside Todoroki who had both prepared themselves in battle stances. Bakugou scoffed. Both four-eyes and icey-hot had been working extensively hard together to build each other's quirks up, Bakugou saw a bit of what they were capable of together. He could tell that beating the nomu would be easy enough for them with Iida matching the monster's speed.

Bakugou turned back towards the villains at hand, preparing his hands. "Fine by me! Don't fuck up, got it?" He turned his attention towards the nomu who was getting ready for another charge. Before it was set to move, a path of ice quickly formed towards the nomu, encasing the legs of it. Almost in a flash, Iida had sped down the ice, using the icey sleet to quicken his speed before jumping and landing a powerful kick at the nomu's face. With a hand, Iida took a hold of the nomu's shoulder and propelled himself upwards, lifting his other leg and crashing it back down on the monster's head.

Iida glanced back at Bakugou, determination shining through his glasses. "I leave Midoriya to you! Bakugou!" He shouted out. The fiery boy could only smirk, turning back and kept his eyes back on Deku who stood next to Shigaraki.

The green-haired boy didn't make any motions, nor any movements that indicated he was going to attack. Was he not going to fight? The first few times he and Deku saw each other the latter was more than willing to jump at the chance. It seemed like the head honcho was keeping him back, probably because he knew that the class would try to take him back. If that was the case, then the easiest way to go about this was to taunt Deku into fighting. That would be easy enough, but the actual fighting part wouldn't be. If there was something that never changed in Bakugou over the last few months was his over tenacious desire to win – and he will.

-  
Toshinori frowned, his patience was growing thin. He had listened to All for One ramble on and on about his ideals but the reason he was able to muster through was the secrets he kept about Young Midoriya's state.

"The combination of quirks, it's quite an interesting topic to think about don't you think? Of course with heroes they are only able to place trust into one another which can lead to horrible outcomes. When you place multiple quirks into one person, however, some combinations can lead to the perfect blend. I've been making these nomus to create the perfect synergy of warriors but I was quite surprised when that young boy was able to take a quirk as well." The villain began chuckling, his shoulders moving up and down lightly with what his restrains could allow.

The once number 1 Pro Hero felt his heart leap in his chest. His hands clenched in his lap, working hard not to show any signs of concern or worry.

"You _gave_ him a quirk?" Toshinori tried to keep his voice as calm as he could, but the man couldn't help but grit his teeth in annoyance. He thought about what that would mean for One for All; if there was a destructive quirk then it would be stockpiled and transferred down to the next user. The idea of that made Toshinori's stomach drop. There had been instances of self-destructive quirks throughout history, most of the time those users would have to be hospitalized for the safety of themselves and others. Was it possible that One for All had given Midoriya some sort of self-destruct quirk? How would it be activated?

The vision of seeing Young Midoriya blowing up as enough to get Toshinori back out of his seat, deciding whether or not he should leave to find the others or stay and listen to what the actual quirk was. Judging from the way One for All was stalling, the retired hero had a hunch something was going on during their meeting.

"You're not leaving again so soon? You haven't heard what the quirk was. Truly, I believe that because he was born quirkless he was able to receive the quirk quite easily. Or maybe it's because he was used to having a quirk passed down onto him. Either way, I'm pleasantly surprised his mind did not break like other's have in the past." Toshinori couldn't see but it was almost like All for One was grinning at him.

"Just get to the point. You either tell me what the quirk is or I won't waste any more time here and let you rot." His brave, bold bravado wasn't shaking All for One.

"Come now, All Might. You're going to stay here until you hear what it is, so let me indulge in my magnificent planning. It was a quirk that I had stolen while I was back in my prime days. At the time I was stealing as many quirks as I could. Rather foolish of me looking back, but of course there would be a time and place for everything."

Toshinori sat back down, gritting his teeth as he felt his blood boil. He was being played around, information being used to keep the man at bay. His hands curled back into fists, listening idly as All of One continued on and on.

"Oh don't give me that gloomy look, it doesn't suit you at all. Where is the hero smile of your's?" The villain continued to chuckle as Toshinori kept silent.

Thoughts began bouncing back into the man's head. Worry sprouted from different scenarios that played in Toshinori's mind. He had promised Inko that her son would be saved, but was there really no hope? Was it determined the moment Izuku Midoriya was taken from them that he would die? No, he had to push those thoughts away. He had to believe in his successor, believe that One for All will guide him and protect him like they've done before. On top of that, the entire Class 1-A had pulled their powers together to save him. Toshinori had to put faith in the youth, he couldn't give into despair now – now when there were still people to save! Even without the power of One for All coursing through his veins, the best he could do was continue to give the new generations of hero the light that shone on him once.

He got up from his chair, keeping his gaze on the glass in front of him.

"Whatever the quirk is, Izuku Midoriya is a strong young man who can endure anything. With the help of his classmates, those memories that are trapped inside will break through, I know of that." He felt some surge through his chest, something that he came to know as hope. Toshinori smiled softly, it wasn't the smile he used as All Might that combatted the fear he felt inside of himself, but it was a smile that had complete faith in his students. There came a point in time where you just have to leave it to the young ones. They'll come through, not only because they were strong, but because they had to.

All for One stayed still, pausing for a second before muttering something under his breath. He began chuckling lowly, then the volume went up.

"Foolish! You think that this is some story that comes with a happy ending? Whatever the outcome is, Izuku Midoriya will no longer be the same. I'm sure you'll be happy to know that I didn't plant a bomb in him, nothing that could destroy and kill him." Toshinori let out a sigh of relief.

"There are some things worse than death, and I enjoy hearing your cries when you find Izuku's body without a mind, lost in his own void." The voice was threatening, looming over the room.

Toshinori kept his gaze hardened, scoffing. "And what do you mean by that?"

"Once those memories break through, the emotional turmoil is going to set off the quirk I gave him. Every single memory he owns will slowly break apart, leaving him nothing but a hollow shell of what once was. He won't remember you, his classmates, not even his own name. The boy you once knew will be gone."

-  
Explosions went off, clanging of metal was heard. The entire class had continuously kept their stance against the nomus and villains. Things were not without issues, a lot of the pairings had received copious amount of injuries as a result but kept pursuing their goal. The nomus were all strong, but once the students figured out the different quirks that were stored on top of one another, strategies came to play.

Black and purple flames had surrounded the dormitory, creating an arena that trapped the students. The warp gates had transferred some of the students outside of that ring, meeting with other villains that appeared from the woods. Everyone had their hand at fending off the villains, even those who had seem to cower in fear were actively fighting, utilizing their quirks with their fellow classmates.

Uraraka and Tsuyu had stayed together, fighting off both a nomu and the villainous girl that had appeared to them during the courage test back in the summer training. She had disguised herself as Uraraka for the attack, but the ruse was easily distinguished by Tsuyu who knew the girl too well.

After Todoroki and Iida had finished off the nomu, they were confronted by the villain that had created the wall of fire. He wanted to match his flames against Todoroki's, finding it interesting to see how he could handle the heat.

Other villains that the students recognized from the summer training were there as well, alongside new villains that they didn't know the quirks of. Despite knowing that these villains had faced off against the Pussycats on equal footing, that didn't stop the students from acting upon their heroic instincts.

Bakugou had just pinned down one of the lowly villains, a hand on their back to keep them from getting up. Kirishima came down with his harden arm to incapacitate them with a hit to the back of their head. The two got up and stood with backs facing each other, ready for the next wave of villains that charged at them.

"Bakugou!"

"I got it!" The fiery teen grabbed the other's arm, swinging him around. Kirishima hardened his legs and crashed them into the villains that got too close, knocking them out with the strength that coupled with the momentum of the swing.

Kirishima noticed Sero and Ojiro working off to fight some of the other villains, using Sero's tape to round them up.

"HEY SERO!" He shouted out, picking up one of the villains that was knocked out. "TAPE ME!" Sero grinned, throwing his elbow towards them as tape came over to stick onto the villain that was being held out. Kirishima looked to Bakugou who had moved to the other side, letting the villains get closer.

"Now Kirishima!" He roared out, getting his palms ready, facing the ground. Kirishima took the villain in his hands and spun around once, using the moment to hurl that villain to the side, the tape following the trajectory.

Bakugou sent explosions onto the ground, hurling himself up towards the sky to avoid the line of tape that started attaching itself to the villains. Using his left palm, Bakugou moved himself to the left, heading towards the first villain that was knocked out and taped up. Landing behind him, he grabbed a hold of the villain and tossed him towards the middle of the tape, crashing into the other villains that had got themselves stuck.

Sero cut his tape off and attacked the end to a rock. Ojiro used his tail to throw the rock over towards the crowd of villains, letting the tape wrap around them.

Once they were detained, Bakugou looked back to Deku who was standing back, grinning from ear to ear.

"Look at that… They used one of the lowly villain as a capture point. They had Sero use his tape and used the momentum of the villain's weight to capture the other villains! That teamwork is amazing!" Bakugou could hear Deku from where he was, analyzing the fight as it went on. He could see that the boy was trembling either from excitement or anticipation. Definitely not from fear.

Bakugou stepped forward, bracing his shoulders back as he shouted through the field. "COME AT ME DEKU! What's wrong with you? Didn't you want to fight? Wasn't the last fight we had a disappointment?" He remembered the words the other had said about the fight they had at the beach. Bakugou was fueled by too many emotions at the time, but now he was ready.

Deku frowned, his hand going towards his belt before Tomura took ahold of his arm.

"No, you can't. Remember what I said." Tomura kept Deku back, the other boy shaking with eagerness.

"I know Tomuchan… But I-" Before Deku could continue, Bakugou let out another roar.

"WHAT? Think you can just sit back and not do jack squat? Are you _useless?_ "

That seemed to have gotten Deku off his feet. One blink and Deku wasn't beside Tomura. He came straight at Bakugou, his fists clenched and a grin on his face. Bakugou could only grin back, getting himself prepared to take the other boy head on. He waited for the right moment until,

"SERO!" Bakugou shouted but the tape quirk user was already on it. He had thrown his tape on the back of Bakugou and pulled him back. Bakugou jumped back and let the tape pull him, Deku shocked. The green-haired boy growled and chased after him, following back.

The protests of Tomura wasn't heard by the boy, the vengeance on his mind clouding over.

"Kurogiri, bring him bac-" Strong legs came from the side, kicking down Tomura. Iida quickly adjusted himself to land on the other side. An ice wall emerged from below, creating a barrier that prevented the main two villains from seeing beyond. Todoroki created more sheets of ice on the ground, allowing Iida to skid back next to him.

Bakugou watched as Deku came closer, the rage in his eyes evident. Using his palms, Bakugou created explosions to propel himself further away, towards the courtyard closer to the entrance of the school. Sero already released the tape and watched the two classmates pass them.

"Get back here Kacchan! Trying to run away?!" Deku screamed out, keeping his vicious eyes on the blonde. Bakugou knew that the others could handle the rest of the villains, but Deku? It was true that only strength in numbers could knock down Deku, but deep down Bakugou wanted his god damn rematch. He wanted to face Deku himself, despite the other classmates all agreeing that they would help him out any way possible. Still, he kept the mentality that he was the one that had to repay the debt he owed the boy.

"I ain't running away! Come at me nerd!" Bakugou screamed back, finally stopping near the entrance of the dormitory. Surrounding them was different fights amongst other students. Everyone seemed to have been preoccupied getting their nomus and villains situated. In the corner of his eyes, Bakugou saw some of his classmates on the floor, struggling. Others had visible wounds, some gashes and others with blood.

The blonde gritted his teeth, he had to finish this up as quickly as possible. He had to fight, to win!

"COME AT ME DEKU!" He taunted, getting his arms ready.

Deku's mouth pulled into a strained smile, his teeth barring. He pulled out a few knives from his belt and moved to prepare himself. "STOP CALLING ME THAT!" He shouted back, charging at the source of all his turmoil. With the blade raised, he moved to strike down at Bakugou's shoulder who dodged. With his right arm he threw a punch only for it stop near Deku's chest. Deku held onto the hand grinning.

"Right hook still?" The question was met with Bakugou's smirk.

"You fucking bet." Bakugou took ahold of Deku's hand that was holding his and gripped tightly. Bakugou reeled his head back and crashed it against Deku's forehead, sending the boy off his balance, stumbling backwards.

"KACCHAN WHAT THE FUCK!" Deku held onto his head, groaning. Bakugou winced, rubbing his forehead as he moved to charge at the other. It was an improvised move, but he learned that maybe if he did things that were unexpected, it would throw Deku off his game. It definitely was enough for Bakugou to reel back his arm and send a hard punch to the other's cheek, knocking him onto the ground.

Deku got up, holding his face and glared down the other. Glowing stripes appeared on Deku's face, the power of One for All surging through him. Bakugou knew that he wasn't a match for All Might during the final exams, but he knew Deku was still learning how to handle this quirk. He'd been witnessing it this entire time, and by comparing himself to someone who started from nothing, Bakugou had grown more and more frustrating seeing the other's progress and improvement. Looking back, he shouldn't have been so riled up, he was blessed with amazing powers from the day he was born, Deku started with nothing. It wasn't fair to compare the progress of someone who was level 50 to someone who started at level 1.

In a flash, Deku was already back in the air, throwing a punch at Bakugou once again. The blonde knew he couldn't block it as the strength of the punch could still puncture through, so instead he jumped to the side. Deku seemed to have noticed this and moved to swipe his leg down, tripping Bakugou.

Using his palm towards the ground, he created explosions to propel himself back up and gathered his balance, though before he was able to look up, Deku had landed a strong punch to the boy's chest, sending him back towards the dormitory building.

"That's all you got? Some punches?" Bakugou wiped his mouth as blood began to drip. He clenched at his stomach and got up, seeing two projectiles fly at him. He quickly stepped out of the way but a knife had sliced through his shirt and nicked his shoulder.

"Well, I have some knives too." Deku grinned as he tossed another knife at Bakugou, who jumped to the left.

"You think some knives are going to help you out? Seems like a cheat to me!" Bakugou taunted, holding his hands up. Deku only smiled brightly, throwing his arms to the left. In the corner of his eye, Bakugou saw a glimmer of a string and quickly turned to face the knife that had followed Deku's arm. It swung at Bakugou who ducked, and went back to the owner's hand.

"I think weapons are just fine as long as you know how to properly use it. Same thing as costumes right? Support gear?" Deku hummed thoughtfully, flipping the knife in his hand to hold it with the blade facing down.

Bakugou only grinned back. "Whatever nerd, I'll beat you with or without knives!" Bakugou propelled himself forward with his quirk, one arm moving up to reach out to Deku. The green-haired boy held the knife up, moving to swipe at the hand that was outstretched. At the last minute, Bakugou moved the palm up and blasted an explosion, moving himself lower on the ground and slid below Deku's legs. He quickly straightened himself up and landed a kick to the boy's back, causing him to stumble forward.

Deku growled in returned and flipped himself to land a punch at the ground where Bakugou was. The blonde had quickly rolled to the side and got back to his feet, though the powered-up punch had created a crater in the ground that left Bakugou off balance. While he was moving to keep himself upright, Deku grabbed ahold of Bakugou's arm and swung him over his shoulder, tossing him onto the ground with extreme force.

Bakugou spat out some blood and quickly tried to get himself off the ground but was thrown onto the other side by Deku once more. The expression on the boy's face was twisted, his eyes widen accompanied by a wide grin as he moved on top of Bakugou to throw down a fist. The punches collided with Bakugou's face, another thrown after. The blonde could feel the bone in his nose crack as another punch soared across his face. He used his legs to kick Deku back, quickly stumbling behind him.

"Come BACK here!" Deku pulled himself forward, his arm reeling back for another strong punch. Bakugou made a move to step back but found his head clouding up from the punches he received. He wouldn't be able to dodge it, he had to block-!

The punch never came, instead, Bakugou found himself being pulled back. Nothing was holding him, but for some reason his body was being dragged across the ground towards the entrance of the building. Looking back, he came face to face with Inko Midoriya who was struggling with an arm out. She had pulled Bakugou out of the way with her quirk, saving him from Deku's powerful punch.

"K-Katsuki!" She cried out, eyes brimming with tears. His face must've been a mess, obviously enough to worry the mother. He got up and wiped his face, the blood staining his arm. Shouji and Satou appeared behind her, moving to guard her.

Finally standing up, Bakugou turned back to see Deku standing there, eyes wide. He stared at his mother long and hard, his mouth agape.

"Why? Why is she here?" Deku's couldn't move his gaze away, Inko trembled at the sight of her son who was so close, almost at reach.

"I-Izuku!" She cried out, ready to move towards him before Shouji held his arms out to block her.

Deku's hands shook, balling into fists as he began walking closer. "WHY ARE YOU HERE?! NOW OF ALL PLACES?! Where were you when I needed you?!" He screamed out, bracing his arm to throw a punch at his own mother. Satou and Shouji moved to counter, but Bakugou was the one who got in front.

He held his palms out and summoned a concentrated blast of explosions, creating his stun grenade attack. It shot directly in front of Deku who blocked it with his other arm, falling back.

"What the FUCK is wrong with you?" Bakugou screamed out, panting hard. "Trying to hurt your fucking mom?" He didn't know what got his legs moving, but he knew that he couldn't stand there and watch Deku try to land a hit on his own mother. For the first time, Bakugou's legs moved on its own to rescue someone.

Bakugou frowned and moved to prepare his next move. He kept his hands close together, the sweat on his palms heating us as he focused the trajectory. Deku looked up and a beam of explosions fired off from Bakugou's hands. The concentrated blast sent Deku flying backwards, falling onto the ground. Bakugou huffed, clenching his fists as he watched Deku struggle to get up.

"No… I'm not going to lose to you Kacchan…" He seethed, looking up with fire in his eyes.

"IZUKU!" Bakugou yelled out, catching the attention of the boy in question and the other classmates around. "LISTEN TO ME! You're a HERO!" He couldn't stop to think what he wanted to say, he had to get him to listen, he had to say what was in his heart.

"You're stronger than this! SO SNAP OUT OF IT! COME BACK TO US!" Bakugou screamed, the sincerity in his voice caused his words to crack.

Deku stared, his eyes wide. Bakugou caught a glimmer of something in the green orbs, something reminiscent.

"Deku! You're the Deku that never gives up! The Deku that does his best!" Uraraka screamed out, her eyes watering as Deku turned to stare at her.

"You're Midoriya of Class 1-A! You're our friend! If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be here!" Iida shouted next from behind. The entire class had begun shouting at the green-haired boy, all throwing their emotions into their words.

"You've saved me from myself, you've shown me what it meant to be a hero!" Todoroki called out next, the entire class moving in closer.

"You're strong Midoriya, if anyone could do this it's you, ribbit!"

"You're the manliest guy I know! So hurry and shake it off!"

"You've always been so strong! So like, let's get this done and over with! Come back!"

Bakugou watched as more of his classmates called out, his heart stirring. Deku stared at everyone who called out, from Tsuyu, to Kirishima, to Mina. He began to tremble, clutching at his head.

"Through the heaviest of darkness will you see the brightest of lights, find the guide back to where you truly belong."

"With your strength, you can break through."

Deku turned his head to see Tokoyami and Shouji standing over some uprooted cement.

"You beat Shinsou's brainwashing, you can pull through anything!"

"You're our fellow classmate Midoriya, we won't rest till we have you back safe and sound."

"Listen to everyone… can't you hear how much they care?"

"Yeah! We all need you back Midoriya! Seriously! C'mon back!"

He clutched at his head, turning to see Ojiro, Yaoyorozu, Jirou and Kaminari all staring at him. Something in his heart began pulling, threatening to burst as his eyes welled up.

"Yeah Midoriya! Where's that super strong spirit of your's? Bring it out and let's GO!"

"… You can do it, we believe in you."

"You're too cool to be a villain Midoriya!"

"You sparkle the brightest amongst us, mon ami."

"Man! We're really trying to help you out here, so give us a break!"

"You can do it! Just have to give it your all!"

The boy started hyperventilating looking to the other students that had called out to him. They all had a look of determination on their face, something about it seemed so familiar to him.

"Izuku please come home!"

Deku turned to face his mother, tears falling down his cheek as his heart continued to pounce and his mind began to drum. He held onto his head, falling to his knees while writhing in pain. The entire class began to approach, concern filling their face as they watched Deku crouch on the ground, fighting himself.

"IZUKU!" Bakugou raced towards him, a hand reaching out to him. As the green-haired boy looked up, his eyes widen and a click was heard. Once Bakugou got close enough to touch Midoriya, a strong shock wave emitted from the boy's body, throwing the surrounding debris back and blasted Bakugou back onto the ground.

Midoriya fainted, as did Bakugou.

-  
The first thing Bakugou noticed was the pain he felt on his face. It stung. Like someone had punched it repeatedly- oh, that's right. He blinked away the blurriness in his vision before sitting up, looking at his surroundings with aching muscles.

There was debris everywhere, but not the same he saw earlier. No, he wasn't in the courtyard but the location was familiar. He was inside a building, cement blocks littered the ground around him.

Ground Beta.

Bakugou got up quickly and noticed that he was back wearing his hero costume, the realization hitting him like a punch straight from All Might himself. He quickly scanned the room, looking for the person he knew would be there with him.

Across the room was a hunched up body in a green body suit, holding onto himself. Bakugou quickly scrambled over to the boy's side, grabbing ahold of his shoulders.

"Deku! Did we do it?!" He gasped out, shaking the other before noticing the other was crying, tears streaming down his face.

"K-Kacchan… Everything hurts..." Midoriya confessed, turning towards him, one hand on his head.

"What's wrong?" Bakugou's eye twitched. They've done it right? So maybe this was just an aftermath of breaking the quirk's hold.

Midoriya moved to stand up, nearly stumbling into the taller boy's arm. He looked up at the ceiling that had been blasted through. Bakugou followed the other's gaze, nearly gasping at what he saw. Instead of the sky above, pieces of visions were floating about, almost like screens to another dimension playing out a scenario. It was almost like watching a movie until Bakugou realized what they were.

They were memories.

A few floated around, but what Bakugou noticed is that they looked like they were crumbling. Pieces of light scattered down on the two as the memories began to fade into thin air.

"I think I'm losing my memories, no, I'm not losing them, they're erasing." Midoriya gasped, lip quivering as more tears cascaded down his cheeks.

Bakugou continued to stare. What did that mean? Everything that the boy had worked up to this point would be gone, wasted. Every memory he had with his classmates, with his mother, with All Might, gone? Would he remember who he was? Would he remember how to speak? What did this all mean?!

The blonde gritted his teeth, fists clenching as he watched the memories slowly crumbled away. He heard muttering from Midoriya and normally his first response would to shut him up, but what he heard almost yanked his heart out of his chest.

"Izuku Midoriya, Shouto Todoroki, Tenya Iida, Uraraka Ochako…"

He was muttering the names of his classmate to keep himself aware. He wanted to remember them. Midoriya continued to mutter to himself while Bakugou kept silent, his brain scanning through possible solutions to the predicament. Could he catch the pieces of memory and stitch them together? What can he do? What was there to do?!

The memories continued to crumble, half of them had disappeared already.

"S-Sho… I-I can't remember! Kacchan I can't remember!" Midoriya grabbed ahold of the other's arm, gripping them tightly as he began to sob. "I don't want to forget! I don't want to lose everyone!"

Something in Bakugou's mind clicked. He quickly grabbed ahold of the boy's shoulder and stared at him directly in the eye.

"SHUT UP! You're not losing anyone! Memories or not, we're still going to be with you okay? You're still going to be you no matter WHAT! I don't care if you can't remember us! Who cares? They'll just become your friends again!" Bakugou watched as Deku's eyes widen, his mouth quivering. The blonde couldn't stop himself from trembling himself, biting his lip.

"But Kacchan-"

"No buts! Stop making excuses! You're not dying are you? So what's there to be worrying about you damn nerd?" Bakugou knew the answer to that.

"What if I'm not myself? What if I don't want to be a hero anymore?" Midoriya looked down, holding onto his arms.

"Ha! What a joke! Of course you're going to want to be a hero! Who doesn't?" Bakugou laughed, grinning before seeing Midoriya's defeated face. "Oi, don't give me that look. You'll be fine okay?"

Midoriya looked up, meeting Bakugou's eyes, giving him a watery smile.

"I'm scared…" He whispered softly, shivering.

Bakugou took a moment before moving to embrace the other boy. He held onto him tightly, pouring all of his emotions into the hug.

"I'm sorry Izuku, for being an ass. For ruining your life." His voice was softer, somber and almost desperate. "If this really is the last time we see each other like this, I want you to know I'm sorry for everything I've done to you."

Midoriya chuckled into the other's shoulder before returning the embrace.

"Thanks… But you never ruined my life, I've always looked up to you, you're amazing Kacchan." He admitted, smiling softly as he looked up at the memories disintegrating away.

"You're the one that's fucking amazing! Listen, Izuku-"

"You can call me Deku, it's okay, for some reason it seems right."

Bakugou swallowed hard.

"Deku, you'll be alright."

The two let go of one another, taking a step back as Midoriya rubbed at his eyes. He looked up to the ceiling to watch more of the memories fade into nonexistence. The rumble around the two began to sparkle themselves, pieces of them crumbling away into the white abyss.

In that moment, Bakugou watched as the lights of memories faded around Midoriya, illuminating the boy from behind. He didn't want to shed any tears, but his body betrayed him when a single droplet rolled down his left cheek.

"Kacchan?"

Bakugou wiped away at his face.

"What?"

Midoriya looked around, the entire memory of Ground Beta disintegrating into pure white.

"Thanks for saving me."

Bakugou chuckled.

"No idiot, thank _you._ "

In front of him, Midoriya smiled softly before the light enveloped Bakugou's vision.

-  
The ground around him was shaking, or at least that's what it felt to Bakugou in that moment. The waves of movement shook his body to full consciousness. More light flooded in Bakugou's vision, making him grimace.

"So much fucking light…" He murmured, blinking rapidly. A sigh of relief came from someone above, different shadows clouded Bakugou's vision.

"You're awake! Thank goodness!" Uraraka's high voice was too recognizable, it was also annoying in that moment.

Bakugou sat up, rubbing his head and looked around. His few of his classmates were surrounding him, though not everyone. In the distance, Bakugou could hear the wailing of sirens. Turning his head, he saw Inko Midoriya sitting on the ground with her son's head resting in her lap. A few of the other students were around the green-haired boy as well.

"Is he…?" Bakugou calmly asked, looking at the other with wide eyes.

"He's breathing, that we know." Iida spoke up, placing a hand on Bakugou's shoulder. The blonde nodded in response, gritting his teeth. Izuku was going to be fine, he was alive – that's what the important part was.

"The villains are being apprehended as we speak, we've managed to incapacitate all the monstrosities and captured a good amount of the lowly henchmen. As for Tomura Shigaraki and the warp gate quirk user, they've unfortunately escaped." Iida added, lowering his head in guilt.

Todoroki turned from watching Midoriya to Bakugou. "If they plan to come back for him, we will be ready."

Bakugou felt a lump appear in his throat. Would the villains come back for Midoriya despite…?

A groan came from the unconscious boy, alerting everyone and gathered the entire class closer. Bakugou's breath hitched, he couldn't help himself but look over to the boy who started coming to. He had hope, maybe the memories didn't really fade away, just locked again.

They all waited for him to wake up, finally, Midoriya blinked and looked around him. His lips quivered, eyes wide with fear and confusion. The boy scrambled up and began crawling backwards, unsure at how to take in the new surroundings.

"Deku? What's wrong?" Uraraka asked, holding a hand out to the boy who jumped at the sudden movement. Inko's eyes began watering, reaching out for her son as well.

"Izuku baby!" The mother's cry only startled the boy who cowered even lower.

"What's happening?" Kirishima asked, panicked.

Before Bakugou could say anything, a figure came before them, clearing his throat.

"I think I can explain, for now everyone please gather over here, allow young Midoriya some space." The man's darks eye moved to look at Bakugou who met the gaze with a knowing look. All Might closed his eyes and shook his head, letting Bakugou know that the inevitable had occurred.

Bakugou turned back and took another look at Midoriya who looked like a deer in headlights. How could he say he was successful in saving Midoriya? How could he had returned the favor when the boy he knew no longer knew _him_?

The pain inside his chest began to swirl, crushing through his organs and his heart. He felt utter defeat.

-  
It had been a week after the villain attack at the dormitories, but it wasn't until today that class resumed as normal.

Normal was really an understatement, the class no longer felt normal. With the continued absence of Izuku Midoriya the entire class seemed to have been dropped in a pit of gloom and despair. Even with the knowledge that their classmate was alive, after being informed on what had happened to Izuku Midoriya afterwards, no one felt like they had succeeded in what they hoped for.

Aizawa cleared his throat at the front desk, gathering everyone's attention despite no one really talking.

"I'm sure you're all worried about Midoriya, so we've gotten some updates from his family." This seemed to bring everyone's mood up, or at least sparked the entire class's interest.

"We've received reports that he has started talking, so the ability to speak was not forgotten. However, it's what All Might said, his memories have been seemingly wiped. He doesn't know anything, not even his own name."

The class was already silent, but hearing the news only seemed to bring the room into an even deadlier silence.

Iida had his arm up in the few seconds of dreariness. "Excuse me sensei! Would it be possible if we could visit Midoriya? Maybe us being with him could spark some memories in him!" The class seemed to like the idea, using any excuse to bring their hopes up.

Aizawa only shook his head. "We've been told that it would be better to give them space as they try to get Midoriya adjusted back to the world. He's having to learn everything from scratch, so until then, we shouldn't interfere." Iida only gritted his teeth, bowing his head to Aizawa before sitting back down in his seat.

Bakugou leaned his face against his palm, looking at the wall instead of forward. He felt the emptiness behind his seat, taunting him. His heart never felt settled since the day, his mind felt numb to the world.

-  
After the fight, all the students were sent back to their respective homes to stay while the dormitories were being repaired. On top of that, the media had swarmed the area so returning to the dorms after class was too hectic for anyone to bother with.

Walking back to his house gave Bakugou a feeling of unrest. It wasn't like he didn't walk home alone before, it was just the neighborhood that reminded him of his failures. He should be glad that Izuku was alive and recovering, but everything that happened seem to have been for nothing. This ending was too bittersweet for Bakugou to swallow, he didn't want to believe it.

Being lost in thought meant that Bakugou was prone to not pay attention to where he was going. He kept his gaze directed to the floor a bit ahead of his shoes so when a couple of guys walked into him he nearly tripped over himself.

"Hey, WATCH IT!" He shouted, hands moving up to spark explosions in his palms. The guys cowered away and continue off in the other direction. Bakugou grumbled, running a hand through his hair as he marched off towards his block.

He thought about visiting the Midoriyas, at least just for a second. Not even to see Izuku but maybe to talk to Inko about the situation and her son's progress. After all, Bakugou had done his best to save Izuku, and considering their long relationship, it seemed only right for him to know some things.

Bakugou thought back to what Aizawa said in class, then he thought back to what Izuku was like when he woke up after losing his memories. It definitely might've been too soon to pay a visit, but everyone in class was feeling the unrest. The longer questions went unanswered, the more anxious everyone got; that was understandable considering everything that's happened.

How long would it take for Izuku to be comfortable with guests? All Might had made visits, and Bakugou knew that he'd want to help with Izuku's recovery, especially since One for All was still apart of him. If anyone could get Izuku to remember his life, it might be the one person that inspired him to become a hero. Of course, with All Might's true form, it might've been more difficult.

Bakugou continued to ponder the decision on whether or not to visit the Midoriya household until another pedestrian knocked into him. The blonde lost his footing and fell onto the sidewalk, almost face palming. He slammed his hand on the cement and looked behind him, roaring out.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE FUCKING GOING!" The business man didn't even take a look back at Bakugou, speeding away. Other passersby stared at Bakugou but continued on their way. His face grew red with embarrassment, making him grow frustrated. He was about to pull himself off the ground when a hand was extended towards him.

"Are you alright? Can you get up?"

Bakugou looked up, his eyes widening to see Izuku Midoriya standing in front of him, a hand outstretched. Memories ran through his mind, different visions flashed before Bakugou's eyes all leading up to the moment in the woods as a child. He had fallen from a log into the river and Izuku had waded through the water to offer his hand in help.

Maybe a few months back, Bakugou would've found the eyes that looked down on him to be irritating, infuriating, disgusting. Those were the eyes that pitied him, but Bakugou knew better now. The eyes were filled with concern, the hand was meant as an offering for help. There was no pity, no looking down on him other than in a technical manner.

He took the outstretched hand and hoisted himself up, keeping his eyes on Izuku.

"I'm fine." Bakugou didn't know what else to say in that moment. The boy before him gave a nervous smile, letting go of his hand.

"I'm glad, um," The boy nervously looked around, catching the sight of his mother. He beamed, turning back to Bakugou. "My mom's waiting for me so uh, have a good day!" He began heading towards his mother, Bakugou catching her eyes. She gave him a friendly, though worried smile and a small wave.

"Hey, you." Bakugou called out, causing the boy to turn around.

"Yeah?"

The blonde swallowed hard, unsure on what he wanted to say. He stopped the other on a whim. Bakugou realized that there was a lot more he wanted to say to the other, but knew that there was no way he could explain himself without scaring Izuku off. So instead he went with the first thing he should've said.

"Thanks."

Izuku's face beamed, a wide smile crossing his face. Bakugou couldn't help but return the smile, though not as large. The green-haired boy waved and left to meet up with his mother.

Watching the other boy leave with his mother made Bakugou realize that maybe everything they did was worth something. That something was telling him in that moment that everything was going to be okay, and that Izuku would be fine. The hero inside him was still evident, the boy he once knew was still there. Even if things didn't turn out exactly as how everyone planned, Bakugou finally came to realize that he had saved Izuku Midoriya.

To him, his debt wasn't repaid just yet, but the smile that he saw had given him the hope to keep going, to become the best hero that could both win and rescue. Bakugou could see only one person that could rival him for the top spot, but for now he'd just have to wait for him to catch up again.


	10. Epilogue

After every single surprise attack and tireless training sessions that had happened to them, Class 1-A didn't seem to have much of a reaction when they became 2nd years. The entire year had given them valuable experience of what it meant to be a hero in the real world – they've faced evil at its core, what other student from U.A could say that? Not even the third years had gained the knowledge they've received, though it came with heartache.

High school was _supposed_ to be a time for creating happy new memories with friends. Being on the path of a hero; however, high school meant something very different. To Class 1-A, their school meant strengthened their minds and bodies in order to one day put their lives on the line. Heroes risk their lives every single day just to keep the peace in the world, one slip up and you're done. Gone.

If any of the students didn't realize that fact yet, they've came to fully understand it after their first year at U.A.

Though they've all matured as a result, there wasn't a way to truly take away their adolescent personalities. During the summer they had organized a trip to the beach, spending recreational time with each other outside of the dorms. The students were allowed to go back to their families for the summer and being away from home for so long seemed to have taken a toll on a couple of the kids. Still, everyone managed to gather at the beach for one day of ocean waves and sand castles.

Everyone had the intentions of inviting Izuku Midoriya, but after being told time and time again by Aizawa that the family wasn't ready, they stopped asking.

Even Katsuki Bakugou hadn't gone to the Midoriya household during the summer break. It wasn't like he didn't want to (he absolutely did want to) but All Might had even told the young boy himself that Izuku needed more time for recovery.

The class was updated with information every so often, but it was always vague and short. Everyone had a burning desire to see Izuku Midoriya again, even if it was just for a split second. Just to see that he was still there, and maybe that he was still _him._

Bakugou sat in his seat, his face leaning on the palm of his hand as he stared at the wall to his left.

"Man what do you think they're gonna have us do this year? More training?" Kirishima's voice brought Bakugou back to the conversation at hand.

"Who knows! If it's training then no problem! I think I'm more worried about the new lessons in English than anything else." Kaminari shivered at the thought. He might've been the absolute worst at the subject in the class.

"Bro do I feel you. Least we got Bakugou here to tutor us!" Kirishima patted the Bakugou's desk which he was leaning on.

The blonde only frowned, glaring at the two idiots. "Maybe if you two dipshits paid more attention you wouldn't fucking need me to tutor you!" He growled, mouth twitching into a deeper scowl.

Kaminari whistled, folding his arms and grinned at the fiery boy.

"Already grouchy? It's the first day of school! Lighten up!" He stuck a finger out, ready to poke at the beast.

"Don't even think about it." Bakugou threatened which only made Kaminari laugh harder.

More students had made their way into the classroom, talking amongst one another with the time they had before the bell would ring. Bakugou could hear girls squealing behind him, identifying the high-pitched shrieks with Ashido and Hagakure. On the other side of the classroom was Uraraka talking to both Tsuyu and Todoroki, her voice was deafeningly loud as well.

At any other time Bakugou would've found the noise to be annoying and irritable, but the fact that there was a specific someone's muttering missing made him truly frustrated. There should've been someone sitting behind Bakugou, rambling and spouting off words a mile per minute. Maybe that was the reason why he was in such an off-putting mood, though the others inferred it to be his usual routine.

The anxiety of the first day of class had gotten to Bakugou when he least suspected it. What he really thought was _could this be it? We just act like nothing happened and go back to the way things were?_

 _Impossible._

No one could deny that Midoriya's kidnapping and retrieval had deeply affected Bakugou. It shaped his personality and morale into something else, whether that was good or bad was up to the others to interpret.

He was quieter, more to himself than anything else. His desire to win was still burning red hot, but there was something else in his eyes that people didn't seem to understand.

"FUCK." Bakugou cursed, causing his friends to jump in surprise.

"Whoa there, you doing okay?" Kirishima began patting at the blonde's head, causing Bakugou to slap his hand away in annoyance.

"Nothing, just trying to fill my swearing quota." Bakugou grumbled, his answer pleasing both of the boys. While the other two laughed, Bakugou turned back to stare at the wall, sighing to himself.

He was feeling pathetic when he shouldn't be. Bakugou was always stubborn, but it felt like an insult that the others were able to act cheerful in the situation they were in. How could anyone smile when Midoriya wasn't there with them?

 _Shit._

Bakugou was thinking too hard about it. He had to let go and just focus on other things. Maybe if he stopped by after school, just a quick peek into the other's household, then he'd be able to survive for the rest of the school year. It probably would've been unfair to the other classmates, but considering his strong relationship with Midoriya… well, it wouldn't hurt if they didn't know.

"CLASS! PLEASE TAKE YOUR SEATS AND GET YOURSELF READY FOR CLASS!" Iida's voice boomed from the front, his hands gesturing wildly in the air. A few groans came from some of the students as everyone began moving back to their original seats. Iida trotted himself back to his own desk as Aizawa came through the doors to behind the desk. He was carrying his yellow sleeping bag, so at least that meant the day would be an easy one.

"Good morning class." The monotonous tone was one that gave everyone a sense of familiarity, the class replying back. "I was going to have you all do another quirk assessment test and compare it with the ones we did the first time, but there's been a change of plan."

The class began whispering to each other, filling the room with tiny conversations amongst peers.

"You think it's a different kind of test?"

"Maybe they're gonna throw us into another summer camp situation!"

"More practical training perhaps?"

"Or a pop quiz?! I don't remember anything!"

Aizawa cleared his throat, eyebrows furrowing at the students. The chatter had subsided once they took a look at their teacher's irritable eyes.

"Maybe if you all kept quiet, I could explain what we're doing. Honestly how many times do we have to do this." He rubbed the bridge of his nose before taking a deep breath. "We have a new student joining us from now on."

All attention went forward, surprising everyone. Bakugou only furrowed, frowning deeply at the thought. Why introduce a new person into the class now of all time? It didn't seem like something U.A would do, especially when they had just gone through the prospects and conspiracies of there being a traitor amongst the staff and students.

"You already know him, so please help him adjust." Aizawa added, this leaving the class absolutely deadly silent.

Someone they already knew? They didn't mean…? Bakugou's heart began pounding as the door opened. It almost seemed like the entire class had held their breath all at the same time.

Footsteps approached, walking through the door was …

Hitoshi Shinsou.

Bakugou's heart dropped, frustrating him. Of course it wasn't Izuku, why would it be?

The entire class seemed to have hoped the same thing, though it wasn't a bad thing that Shinsou was now in their class, after all he had a very powerful quirk. It was something to celebrate, knowing that Shinsou had come from the General Studies department of the school and was now enrolled into the hero course.

Shinsou stood at the front of the class, bowing his head gently.

"I'm Hitoshi Shinsou. I know a good amount of you already but I hope to get along with everyone in this class." The formality seemed a bit off, but once he looked up and met eye to eye with Bakugou, the blonde quickly shot daggers. The purple-haired boy only frowned in response, heading down the aisle to take a seat.

Bakugou's eyes widen, realizing that he was coming closer to the seat behind him, _Izuku's seat._

"Don't even think about it!" Bakugou's chair almost fell over when he stood up abruptly, meeting eye-to-eye with Shinsou.

"Think about what?" Though his tired expression showed confusion, there was a hint of smugness.

"Sitting here! It's not your fucking seat, got it?!" Bakugou growled, placing a hand on the desk behind him, his fingers twitching.

Uraraka got up from her seat, concern filling her eyes. "Bakugou! Calm down!"

"NO!" He spat back, turning towards the girl. "You should understand right?! You all should! I'm not just going to play around and forget he even existed! This is Izuku's seat!" He roared back, the entire class growing somber with each passing second.

Shinsou only sighed, moving a hand to comb through his purple hair.

"Listen, Bakugou," The blonde refused to listen.

"NO, _you_ fucking listen! EVERYONE listen! I'm not going to forget about him, or where he sat in class! This is his god damn seat and it always will be until he gets back! Got it?! If you think for a second we're gonna let-"

"I'm sorry I'm late!"

All eyes turned towards the door, a panting Izuku Midoriya stood at the doorway gripping his yellow backpack straps. The entire class had gone silent once again.

Aizawa only rummaged through some papers on the desk.

"Being late on the first day? You're already looking pretty bad, I could easily expel you for this." He grumbled but something about his tone seemed to have not been too serious, considering he was smirking.

Midoriya bowed his head and quickly went to the front.

"I'm sorry! I got caught up on the train helping an elderly couple to their next station!" He explained, face growing red with embarrassment.

"I guess if you were helping someone I can let it go, but don't be late again."

Midoriya nodded his head furiously and turned towards the classroom, eyes darting everywhere before looking to his feet.

"U-Um! Hi! I'm Izuku Midoriya, but I guess you all know that huh?" He gave a sheepish smile to the class, before bowing again. "I was already told about my situation, so please don't feel like you have to not talk about it! I have to admit it's sort of confusing and almost impossible to believe but uh, I want to apologize for not being able to remember everyone!"

He stood up, though shaking slightly.

"I still want to be a hero, that's why I'm here. I hope we can all become friends! Again!" Midoriya's face broke out into a wide smile, nearly causing the entire class to break from their silence. Some went into cheers, others began to weep.

Bakugou stood there, eyes widen and mouth open.

-  
"I'm Yuga Aoyama, the sparkliest one here."

"I'm Momo Yaoyorozu, it's a pleasure to remeet you. I hope we can all work to be the best heroes we can be."

"Shouto Todoroki."

Everyone had surrounded Midoriya once the class was put on break, even Shinsou had sat around to introduce himself to the other. Bakugou didn't have to move from his spot at all, since Midoriya's seat was right behind his own. He was sitting on his chair sideways, looking from the entire class to the expression Midoriya had on his face every time someone introduced themselves.

Of course the boy was overwhelmed, considering there was 20 students all crowding around one area to talk to him, but what could you expect?

"Rikadou Satou! Great to meet you dude!"

"Kyouka Jirou, let me know if you need anything, kay?"

"Tsuyu Asui, but please call me Tsu. Ribbit."

Midoriya politely replied to everyone, frantically looking around as more people chimed in. He rubbed the back of his head and grew red from all the sudden attention.

Once everyone had introduced themselves (excluding Bakugou who was too shocked to really say a word) everyone began asking questions. It was like a new transfer student came in and the entire class wanted to know everything, despite already knowing about Midoriya. Maybe it was the new life he got that seemed interesting to them, or the fact that Midoriya was still aiming to be a hero despite all of his motivations and support being erased.

"So why do you want to be a hero? I mean, who doesn't right? But considering, you know?" Hagakure chimed in, though Bakugou wasn't really sure where the invisible girl was.

"Hm? Well, I guess I just really like helping people? I don't know there's just something in me that can't turn away from someone in need of help. I think I knew I wanted to be a hero was when I saw this robbery happening inside a grocery store when I was out with my mom. Just a bunch of thugs and my mom was ready to call the police, but I saw a child in trouble and before I knew it my legs had me over there." Midoriya kept his gaze down to his hands as he recalled the story.

"I don't know what happened, but I think something awakened in me. I didn't know how to use my uh, quirk since I had forgotten, but in that moment my legs became really powerful and I was able to protect the kid." He looked up at the entire class, growing embarrassed again at the realization he had started rambling. "Sorry! I didn't mean to talk on and on about that! I just got lost in the memory that's all! I'm sure my reasoning's pretty boring huh?"

Uraraka was the first to respond. "Of course not! Deku that's amazing!"

Green eyes looked at her, puzzled.

"Deku?"

The entire class shifted awkwardly, quickly trying to find a way to diffuse the air of confusion.

"Um! It was a, uh, nickname that someone gave you!" Uraraka quickly replied, throwing her hands up.

"Deku as in 'the one who can't achieve anything'? Is that me?" Midoriya's eyes widen before he jumped in surprise at Bakugou who suddenly rose hastily from his seat.

"I fucking gave you that name okay? But listen, you're not the Deku 'who can't do anything' you're the Deku that always does his best! The 'I can do it' Deku! You got it?!" Bakugou slammed his palms on Midoriya's desk, the entire class startled that the blonde was giving off such a nasty vibe right off the bat.

Midoriya only blinked before smiling gently.

"The Deku who always does his best, I think I'm okay with that." It was almost like the class let out a sigh of relief all at once, a few snickers here and there.

"Um, I don't think you told me your name by the way." Midoriya added, looking up at Bakugou. The blonde could only scoff, sitting back in his seat before turning his head away from the other. Too many emotions were going through his mind, falling into his heart and then climbed back to his head in a dizzy sprint.

On one hand he should be happy that Midoriya was there, back in class. After all, he was the one that threw a public tantrum about the seat being only reserved for the green-haired boy, but on the other hand the entire situation _sucked._ He just wanted Midoriya back with all his memories, though it seemed as like it was impossible at this point.

Damn it! He should be happy right? Midoriya still wanted to be a hero, he was going to be friends with everyone again, so why was something missing?

"Um," Midoriya reached over to tap Bakugou's shoulder when he didn't respond.

"It's Katsuki Bakugou, and I'm going to be the number 1 hero one day. So you better watch your fucking back, I'm not losing to anyone, not even you." He huffed out, turning to look at Midoriya, meeting his emerald eyes once again.

"Katsuki Bakugou…" Midoriya murmured, fingers going up to his face to rub his chin. "Oh! Okay I got it!"

Bakugou turned back again, raising an eyebrow at the other.

"How about I call you Kacchan? Just so we're even now. You can call me Deku since you're probably used to it, but I think it's fair if I give you one too." He grinned, Bakugou's eyes widening.

The entire class almost broke into their own smiles and laughter. No one acknowledged that Bakugou wasn't looking embarrassed or upset, rather he looked extremely happy.

Bakugou snorted, turning his chair so he could face Midoriya.

"Fine Deku, call me whatever you want but it's still not going to change the fact I'm going to be number 1." He smirked at the boy who could only challenge his expression with a determined look of his own.

"We're all here to do our best right? But just so you know I'm going to do my best too, even if everyone's already got a head start on me. I'm the Deku that never gives up, I want to be the greatest hero too!" Midoriya announced, hands balling into fists in front of him.

Some other students chimed in after, stating that they'll be the best hero as the competitive nature of the class grew. The conversation grew from there and Bakugou turned back to face the wall once again.

Bakugou was far too determined to be number 1, but if there was anyone out there that could go beyond, it would be Izuku Midoriya. After the entire travesty, he was still himself.

Finally, Bakugou was able to realize what the situation meant now.

Second chances.

This was the time where he could finally throw away all the self-loathing and resentment, he could finally look to Midoriya as someone who wasn't trying to pity him or make him feel lower than dirt. He was a rival, but most importantly, a friend.

Now was the time to finally return with payment in kind.

He could finally return the favor.


End file.
